Limit $\underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}}\frac{\sqrt[3]{a x+b} - 2}{x}$ equals to $\frac{5}{12}$ A friend of mine asked this question to me. It seems it's from Stewart.
Find the values of a and b such that
$\underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}}\frac{\sqrt[3]{a x+b} - 2}{x} = \frac{5}{12}$
This is what I tried with better results.
For $b$:
$$\frac{\sqrt[3]{a x+b} - 2}{x} = \frac{5}{12} $$
$$\sqrt[3]{a x+b} - 2 = x\frac{5}{12} $$
$$\underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}} \sqrt[3]{a x+b} - 2 = \underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}} x\frac{5}{12} $$
$$\sqrt[3]{b} - 2 = 0 $$
$$\sqrt[3]{b}  = 2 $$
$$ b = 8$$
For $a$:
$$a x+8 = (x\frac{5}{12} + 2)^3$$
$$a x+8 = \frac{125 x^3}{1728}+\frac{25 x^2}{24}+5 x+8$$
$$a x = \frac{125 x^3}{1728}+\frac{25 x^2}{24}+5 x$$
$$a = \frac{125 x^2}{1728}+\frac{25 x}{24}+5$$
$$\underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}} a =\underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}}  \frac{125 x^2}{1728}+\frac{25 x}{24}+5$$
$$a = 5 $$
But the limit $$\underset{x\to 0}{\text{lim}}\frac{\sqrt[3]{5x+8} - 2}{x}$$ doens't go to $\frac {5}{12}$.
May someone help.

What about multiplying by the conjugate?
\begin{align*}
(ax+b)^{1/3} - 2 = \frac{ax + b - 8}{(ax+b)^{2/3} + 2(ax+b)^{1/3} + 4}
\end{align*}
Then, if we take $b = 8$, the proposed limit equals
\begin{align*}
\lim_{x\to 0}\frac{(ax+b)^{1/3} - 2}{x} & = \lim_{x\to 0}\frac{1}{x}\times\frac{ax + b - 8}{(ax+b)^{2/3} + 2(ax+b)^{1/3} + 4} = \frac{a}{12} = \frac{5}{12}
\end{align*}
thence we conclude that $a = 5$.
Hopefully this helps!
