# Talk:L'Hopital's rule

## Math Symbols

If someone could show me how to use mathematical symbols on Conservapedia, I would be glad to correct this article. L'Hopital's Rule is in fact a rule for calculating the limit of the quotient of two functions when such a limit appears to approach an indeterminate form (such as 0/0, infinity/infinity, etc.). This problem is addressed by taking the limit of the quotient of the derivatives of the two functions. If this also yields an indeterminate form, the process can be iterated as many times as is necessary to obtain a meaningful result. --Economist 18:00, 6 February 2009 (EST)

Try this:

• Write mathematical formulas indented with a ":" in the following way:

:$LaTeX formula goes here$


• Try to avoid numbering your equations and instead reference them in the text by their names or describe them in words. Numbered equations creates problem when someone later adds an equation in the middle of a page. However, if you find it absolutely necessary to number your formulas please use a HTML table like this:

<table width="70%">
<tr><td>
:$LaTeX for formula one goes here$
</td><td width="5%">(1)</td></tr>


• For definitions and equivalences use "$\equiv$" ($\equiv$) and use " = " ($=$) for equations.
• If you want to put some text within an equation, use the \mbox{} environment. For example

:$\epsilon_{ijk} = 1, \mbox{ if all i, j, k are different and in cyclic order}$



will produce

εijk = 1, if all i, j, k are different and in cyclic order

--₮K/Admin/Talk 19:36, 13 February 2009 (EST)

Thanks, this seems helpful. What exactly are LaTex formulae though? It seems to me that a simpler solution would be to upload images of the equations. Unfortunately, I don't have the necessary editing rights to do so. --Economist 19:39, 13 February 2009 (EST)

All Greek to me, Economist. Here is another link, that perhaps you will understand, as I certainly do not! As for the images, I responded to your earlier question about how to get the images uploaded..... --₮K/Admin/Talk 19:41, 13 February 2009 (EST)

Thanks, this seems pretty useful. P.S. What a witty Greek joke! --Economist 19:43, 13 February 2009 (EST)

## Math Form

Looks good, though the example should be amended to point out that f(c) and g(c) can also be equal to +/- infinity, as this also yields an indeterminate form. --Economist 23:49, 22 June 2009 (EDT)

And nice catch on the "said to be equal" thing. Your wording is probably more accurate. --Economist 23:57, 22 June 2009 (EDT)
Who are you talking to, Economist? I take it our friends noticed that the math symbols I posted in answer to your question, months ago, came from Media Wiki, right? That the link I gave you here, which is attributed by the link, is exactly what I used? Oh, wait, they didn't....just another example of how wrong liberals typically are!  :p --ṬK/Admin/Talk 05:10, 23 June 2009 (EDT)
I think Economist's comments are in response to my edits to this article from last night (a rewording, and the examples section -- not sure why he chose that heading). By the way, Economist, if you haven't figured out how to type math symbols, one place to start would be "A Not So Short Introduction to LaTeX2e". It looks to me like math here is typeset in something like the LaTeX typesetting language. LaTeX is used for pretty much all papers in math; not sure if anyone in econ uses it, but it might be worth knowing anyway. You'd only have to read a couple pages to learn the basics. --MarkGall 11:03, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

## In case you haven't noticed

The first line should be $g'(x) \not\equiv 0$ not $g'(x) \ne 0$, since it can still be 0 at some places. ChuckK 08:53, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

You're right, of course -- indeed this is the case in the second example given. The statement of the theorem right now isn't entirely precise, and it should also mention that the limit f'(x) / g'(x) must exist. There are cases in which f/g is indeterminate, and the limit of f/g exists, but the limit of f'/g' does not exist. I'd make these edits, but the page seems to be locked now... --MarkGall 11:07, 23 June 2009 (EDT)
Sorry! Forgot to unlock it. Now it is. --ṬK/Admin/Talk 15:07, 23 June 2009 (EDT)

## Foreign spellings

The language on this site is English, and foreign spellings of terms that have been adopted by the English language are disfavored.--Andy Schlafly 23:43, 25 January 2010 (EST)

In that case you should read the article and fix the very first instance of the term in question at the very least, not to mention the other two instances of the offending accent circonflexe. I'd do it myself, but the article has been locked. AlexWD 23:45, 26 January 2010 (EST)