Short answers, pulled from the story.
A limited series is a comic book series with a predetermined number of issues, decided before production begins. It differs from an ongoing series, which has no fixed endpoint, and from a one-shot, which is a single issue. Dark Horse Comics defines it as a connected series with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics define a miniseries as a limited series of two to eleven issues, while a maxiseries has twelve issues or more. DC coined the term maxiseries as a promotional description for Camelot 3000 in 1982, the first limited series to reach 12 issues.
DC Comics published its first limited series, World of Krypton, in 1979, while the publisher was recovering from the DC Implosion. It was followed in 1980 by the three-issue series The Untold Legend of the Batman, by Len Wein, John Byrne, and Jim Aparo.
Marvel Comics published its first limited series, Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions, in 1982. It was followed by miniseries featuring Wolverine, Hercules, and The Vision and the Scarlet Witch.
Watchmen (1986) by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, The Dark Knight Returns (1986) by Frank Miller, and Secret Wars (1984) are among the most influential limited series. Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns both appeared in 1986; Secret Wars ran for 12 issues starting in 1984, and DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths followed in 1985-1986.
Limited series usually display both the current issue number and the total issue count on the cover or in the indicia, such as "issue 3 of 5". This signals that the series has a fixed length and tells a complete story across its run.