Math Playground
Calculus

L'Hôpital's rule

When 0/0 or ∞/∞ shows up, differentiate top and bottom.

When you plug into a limit and get 0/0 or ∞/∞, you can differentiate the top and bottom separately and try again. That's L'Hôpital's rule.

L'Hôpital
lim f(x)/g(x) = lim f'(x)/g'(x)

when both → 0 or both → ∞

Try it

lim(x→0) sin(x)/x

Plugging 0 gives 0/0. Differentiate: cos(x)/1. At x=0: cos(0) = 1.