Does Magnification Affect Both Vertical and Horizontal Dimensions in Lenses?

[Mishy]

I was wondering if magnification applies to the vertical and horizontal dimensions, or just the vertical.

The following information is about the question I am dealing with. It won't answer my concern above, but give a sens of what is going on. The question is dealing with a thin lens (converging, if that matters) with the object (face area is given) in front of the lens (+p) and the image behind the lens (+q). Both the object and the image are farther from the lens than the focal point on their respective sides. The image is bigger than the object and is inverted (-M). The question asks for the area of the image. Does that mean the height of the object is multiplied by the magnification as well as the width, or is it just the height that is multiplied by the magnification?

Help would be appreciated, Thanks,
Mishy

 

[Chi Meson]

Yes.

The geometry is symmetric radially around the principle axis. That means that an arrow set vertically will have the same magnification in length as it would if set horizontally. So again, yes, the magnification for spherical lenses applies identically to width and height.

 

[kyle8921]

Hello Mishy,

Thank you for your question. Magnification does indeed apply to both the vertical and horizontal dimensions in the context of lenses. In your specific example, the magnification factor (-M) refers to the ratio of the height of the image to the height of the object, as well as the ratio of the width of the image to the width of the object. This means that both the height and the width of the object will be multiplied by the magnification factor to determine the corresponding dimensions of the image.

I hope this helps to clarify your question. If you have any further concerns, please let me know.

Best,