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ok, the question is to find the limit as x approaches infinity of (x^3 - 5x^2 + x + 2)^(1/3) - x

I know that as x goest to infinity the small powers of x and the constants become insignificant, and the problem becomes
(x^3 - 5x^2)^(1/3) - x = or x(1 - 5/x)^(1/3) - x

but I don't see how you go from

x(1-5/x)^(1/3) - n
to:
x(1 - 5/(3x) + O(1/x^2)) - x

can someone explain this step in detail, thank you

2007-10-06 08:17:57 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics Mathematics

3 answers

You have to use the binomial distribution to expand
(1-5/x)^(1/3)
= 1 - 1/3 * (5/x) - (1/3)(-2/3)*(5/x)^2 / 2! + ...
= 1 - 5/(3x) + O(1/x^2)

2007-10-06 08:30:43 · answer #1 · answered by Dr D 7 · 1 0

(x^3 - 5x^2 + x + 2)^(1/3) - x
This is in the form infinity - infinity
1/[(x^3 - 5x^2 + x + 2)^-(1/3)] - x/1
= 1-x[(x^3 - 5x^2 + x + 2)^-(1/3)]/(x^3 - 5x^2 + x + 2)^-(1/3)
This puts in in form infinity/infinit and you can now apply L'Hospital's rule.
You should get limit = -5/3

2007-10-06 16:20:19 · answer #2 · answered by ironduke8159 7 · 0 0

(1+t)^alpha = 1 + alpha t + O(t^2) (t->0)

In your case
t = -5/x and alpha = 1/3

The formula is generated from taylor series for function
f(t) = (1+t)^alpha

2007-10-06 15:30:01 · answer #3 · answered by Ivan D 5 · 0 0

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