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In physics, a sign convention is a choice of the physical significance of signs (plus or minus) for a set of quantities, in a case where the choice of sign is arbitrary. "Arbitrary" here means that the same physical system can be correctly described using different choices for the signs, as long as one set of definitions is used consistently.
When measuring the height of an inverted image using the cartesian sign convention (where the x-axis is the optical axis) the value for h i will be negative, and as a result M will also be negative. However, the traditional sign convention used in photography is "real is positive, virtual is negative". [1]
A lens may be considered a thin lens if its thickness is much less than the radii of curvature of its surfaces (d ≪ | R 1 | and d ≪ | R 2 |).. In optics, a thin lens is a lens with a thickness (distance along the optical axis between the two surfaces of the lens) that is negligible compared to the radii of curvature of the lens surfaces.
Note however that in areas of optics other than design, other sign conventions are sometimes used. In particular, many undergraduate physics textbooks use the Gaussian sign convention in which convex surfaces of lenses are always positive. [3] Care should be taken when using formulas taken from different sources.
The phoropter measurement is made at a common vertex distance of 12 mm from the eye. The equivalent prescription at the patient's cornea (say, for a contact lens) can be calculated as follows (this example assumes a negative cylinder sign convention): Power 1 is the spherical value, and power 2 is the steeper power of the astigmatic axis:
Similarly to curved mirrors, thin lenses follow a simple equation that determines the location of the images given a particular focal length and object distance (): + = where is the distance associated with the image and is considered by convention to be negative if on the same side of the lens as the object and positive if on the opposite side ...
For a single lens surrounded by a medium of refractive index n = 1, the locations of the principal points H and H ′ with respect to the respective lens vertices are given by the formulas = ′ = (), where f is the focal length of the lens, d is its thickness, and r 1 and r 2 are the radii of curvature of its surfaces. Positive signs indicate ...
In most cases, two thin lenses are combined, one of which has just so strong a positive aberration (under-correction, vide supra) as the other a negative; the first must be a positive lens and the second a negative lens; the powers, however: may differ, so that the desired effect of the lens is maintained. It is generally an advantage to secure ...