Math & Science ⇒ Limit description badly positioned

[Enedrox]

I have encountered this a couple of times now and so far, have not been able to find any solutions to this problem.

In most cases, the description of the limit is situated beneath the actually word "lim", but sometimes it appears as a subscript instead of being actually underneath the limit. I have encounted this in the $...$ environment, and when inside a fraction which is inside the align environment.

So, for example:

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\begin{align}
	\lim_{x \rightarrow 2} \frac{x^3 + 2x^2 - 1}{5-3x} &= \frac{\lim_{x \rightarrow 2} x^3 + 2x^2 - 1}{\lim_{x \rightarrow 2} 5-3x}
\end{align}

Before the equal sign, it is working fine, but within the fraction environment, it is not working properly:

limit.png

I'm using Miktex 2.9 on Windows 7, with the babel, graphicx and amsmath packages uniquely.


Edit by localghost: Preferably no external links (see Board Rules). Attachments go onto the forum server where possible.

[5gon12eder]

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\lim_{...}

acts differently in inline and equation mode. This is not that bad because usually one would like to have a math expression to take as little vertical space as possible when typeset inside a paragraph.

You can however create the form you prefer if you use

Code: Select all

\lim\limits_{...}

instead.

[Enedrox]

Thanks, this worked perfectly!

What exactly does the function "\limits" do? Is it specifically to be used with "\lim" only?

Additionally, I'm assuming that having the limit to the side rather than below is also acceptable? I have never seen it that way though...

[shadgrind]

You could also use

Code: Select all

\displaystyle\lim_{...}

The \displaystyle command works with limits, integrals, summations and other objects that use subscripts.

[localghost]

[…] What exactly does the function "\limits" do? Is it specifically to be used with "\lim" only? […]

For further reading about math typesetting you could take a look at the excellent »Math mode« document.


Best regards and welcome to the board
Thorsten