<s>[INST] Calculus - Finding limit (NOT L'Hopital's Rule): $\lim_{x \to 1^-}\frac{x^2+x+\sin({\pi\over 2}x)-3}{x-1}$ How do I find this limit?
$$\displaystyle{\lim_{x \to 1^-}}\frac{x^2+x+\sin({\pi \over 2}x)-3}{x-1}$$
I am unable to factor the numerator to get rid of the denominator. Can someone please help? Thank you!
Is there any other way to get the answer besides using L'Hopital's Rule?
 [/INST] Here we do not use Hopital or derivatives.
Note that 
$$x^2+x+\sin({\pi \over 2}x)-3=(x+2)(x-1)+\sin({\pi \over 2}-{\pi \over 2}(1-x))-1\\=(x+2)(x-1)+\cos({\pi \over 2}(1-x))-1\\
=(x+2)(x-1)-2\sin^2(\frac{\pi}{4}(1-x))$$
because $1-\cos(t)=2\sin^2(t/2)$.
Hence, as $x\to 1$,
$$\frac{x^2+x+\sin({\pi \over 2}x)}{(x-1)}=x+2-2\sin(\frac{\pi}{4}(1-x))\cdot \frac{\sin(\frac{\pi}{4}(1-x))}{(x-1)}\to 1+2+0=3$$
where we used the fact that 
$$\lim_{x\to 1}\frac{\sin(\frac{\pi}{4}(1-x))}{(x-1)}=-\frac{\pi}{4}\cdot \lim_{x\to 1}\frac{\sin(\frac{\pi}{4}(1-x))}{\frac{\pi}{4}(1-x)}=-\frac{\pi}{4}.$$
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