[Math] Evaluate $\displaystyle\lim_{x \to 0} {\sin(a+2x)-2\sin(a+x)+\sin(a)\over x^2}$

calculuslimits

I am struggling with this one, I know there is probably a super easy way to solve it but its just slipping my mind. I am trying to stay away from L'Hospital's and the Mean Value Theorem because we studied them later. My teacher refuses to do any examples in class and I am having a hard time keeping up with what he is doing since he is just stating calculus facts and giving calculus history lessons instead of actually teaching. If you could explain that would be super helpful for my future studies!

Best Answer

\begin{align*} \lim_{x\to 0} {\sin(a+2x)-2\sin(a+x)+\sin(a)\over x^2}&= \lim_{x\to 0} {(\sin(a+2x)-\sin(a+x))-(\sin(a+x)-\sin(a))\over x^2}\\ &=\lim_{x\to 0} {2\cos((a+3x/2)\sin(x/2)-(2\cos(a+x/2)\sin(x/2)\over x^2}\\ &= \lim_{x\to 0} {2\sin(x/2)(\cos((a+3x/2)-\cos(a+x/2))\over x^2}\\ &=\lim_{x\to 0} {2\sin(x/2)(2\sin(a+x)\sin(-x/2))\over x^2}\\ &=\lim_{x\to 0} 2\frac{{\sin(x/2)}}{2(x/2)}\frac{\sin(-x/2)}{2(x/2)}2\sin(a)\\ &=-\sin(a) \end{align*}

Related Question