Reviewing limits and I'm afraid I may be making mistakes, just looking for a quick proof check.
$f(x)=x^4$, prove that $\lim _{x \rightarrow a}f(x)=a^4$ by showing how to find $\delta$ .
This is my work. $|x^4 - a^4 | < \epsilon$ and $0<|x-a|<\delta$
Factoring: $|x^2 +a^2||x-a||x+a|< \epsilon$ next we set $|x-a|<1$ which means $-1+a<|x|<1+a$ so that
\begin{align} |x^2 +a^2||x-a||x+a|& =((-1+a)^2 +a^2 )((1+a)+a)(x-a))\\ & = |2a(1+2a^2 -2a)||x-a|\\ & <\epsilon \\ \end{align}
We then have $$\delta =\min\lbrace 1, \frac{\epsilon}{ |2a(1+2a^2 -2a)|} \rbrace$$
How's it look?
Alternate Solution.
Need to find a bound for $|x^2 + a^2||x + a|$. Take for instance, $|x - a| < 1$ then
$$|x^2 + a^2||x + a| = |x^2 - a^2 + 2a^2 ||x - a + 2a| = (|x^2 - a^2 + 2a^2 |)(|x - a + 2a|)$$
This does not change the expression since $a^2 - a^2 = 0$ and $a - a = 0$
Using the triangle inequality $|x + y| \le |x| + |y|$
$$(|x^2 - a^2 + 2a^2 |)(|x - a + 2a|)$$
$$\le (|x^2 - a^2| + |2a^2 |)(|x - a| + |2a|)$$
$$\le (|x - a||x + a| + |2a^2 |)(|x - a| + |2a|)$$
$$\le (|x - a||x -a + 2a| + |2a^2 |)(|x - a| + |2a|)$$
$$\le (|x - a| \cdot (|x -a| + |2a|) + |2a^2 |)(|x - a| + |2a|)$$
$$|x - a| < 1$$
$$< (1 \cdot (1 + 2|a|) + 2|a^2|)(1 + 2|a|)$$
$$< (1 + 2|a| + 2|a^2|)(1 + 2|a|)$$
Therefore
$$|x^2 + a^2||x + a| < (1 + 2|a| + 2|a^2|)(1 + 2|a|)$$
Therefore
$$|x^2 + a^2||x + a||x - a| < (1 + 2|a| + 2|a^2|)(1 + 2|a|)|x - a| < \epsilon$$
$$|x - a| < \frac{\epsilon}{(1 + 2|a| + 2|a^2|)(1 + 2|a|)}$$
Take $$\delta = min \lbrace 1, \frac{\epsilon}{(1 + 2|a| + 2|a^2|)(1 + 2|a|)} \rbrace$$