$\lim_{x\to 2} \, \sqrt{x-2}$

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$$\lim_{x\to 2} \, \sqrt{x-2}$$

When you take the right hand limit for this expression, you get $0$. However, if you take the left hand side it gives an imaginary number.

However, do you consider the imaginary part when taking the limit (in which case both sides would tend to $0$) or do you consider the limit to be undefined because it cannot be approached from the left in the field of real numbers.

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Well, this is tricky. Part of the issue is what does the symbol $\sqrt{\cdot}$ mean? If $a$ is a positive real number, we denote by $\sqrt{a}$ the positive real number whose square is $a$. Usually, if we want a square root of a negative or complex number, we have to be very specific about which square root. For example, we usually say $i$ is the square root of $-1$, but this isn't quite right, since $-i$ is also a square root of $-1$.

In calculus, when dealing with functions of real variables, we don't want to get into this sticky territory, so we say that the domain of the function $f(x) = \sqrt{x}$ is the set of non-negative reals. Therefore, if we want to take a limit as $x$ goes to $0$, we can only consider paths to $0$ that lie within the domain of the function. In this case, that means we can only take a 'right hand' limit.

Interestingly, though, we could think of $f$ as a complex valued function, so taking a 'left hand' limit would give \begin{eqnarray*} \lim_{x\to 2^{-}} \sqrt{x-2} &=& \lim_{x\to 2^{-}} \\ &=&\lim_{x\to 2^-} \sqrt{(-1)(2-x)}\\ &=& \lim_{x\to 2^{-}} i\;\sqrt{2-x}\\ &=& i \cdot \lim_{x\to 2^{-}} \sqrt{2-x}\\ &=& 0, \end{eqnarray*} so, in a certain sense, everything checks out.