Tp, If you really have taken Calculus at any point in the past then surely you must have heard two terms: 1) Indeterminate 2) L Hospital's Rule THe question of Pat is a classic example where if we directly limit the given function it will result in 0/0 which is INDETERMINATE. hence to find the solution we take the derivative of the numerator and that of the denominator and then impose the limit. Hope i clarified. Loote