Applying the equation array to a limit

Question

I'm fairly new to LaTeX, I mostly use it to take calculus notes that I can actually read because relying on my handwriting has not worked very well in the past. I was wondering if there was a way to make \lim work in a way like the eqnarray environment does. Like when you write:

\begin{eqnarray}
2(2)^2 &=& 2(4) \\
&=& 8
\end{eqnarray}

then it aligns all the answers. Limits don't necessarily state an equation relation, but it would still be convenient to type \lim_{x \to 0} once and align all the modifications made to the equation it applies to, to declutter the actual note page and speed up the note taking process.

Basically, I want to write

\begin{eqnarray*}
\lim_{x \to 0} &=& x^{5x} \\
&=& e^{\ln x^{5x}}
\end{eqnarray*}

except without any equal signs.

Answer 1

You can use some of the aligning environments offered by the package amsmath (which are better than eqnarray anyway).

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\begin{document}
\begin{align}
2(2)^2 &= 2(4) \\
       &= 8
\end{align}

\begin{align*}
\lim_{x \to 0} {} & x^{5x} \\
                  & e^{\ln x^{5x}}
\end{align*}
\end{document}