Sign Convention for Mirror Equation

A new Cartesian symbol scheme is used to avoid confusion in the understanding of ray directions. Look at the picture for a better view.

The pole of the mirror is taken into account to measure all distances.
Measuring distances left to the pole ‘P’ of mirror is considered negative.
Distances are considered positive if they are right hand direction to the pole P.
When measured upward and perpendicular to the principal axis, they are considered positive.
If measured downward and perpendicular to the principal axis, they are considered negative.

Read more about Sign Convention for Spherical Mirrors.

Mirror Equation

Mirror Equation in Physics is the equation for mirrors that provides the relation between the distance of the object and the image, as well as its focal length. Mirror Equation is helpful in determining object position, image position or focal length given that two of the parameters are given. In optics, which is the branch of science that deals with the study of light and its interactions with various materials and optical elements, mirrors are used in various instruments for various purposes. Thus, understanding the relationship between the focal length of the mirror and the distance between the object and the image from the mirror is very important.

In this article, we will explore the concept of the Mirror Equation in detail, Mirror Equation Proof, and Mirror Equation for Magnification with various types of mirrors as well. So, let’s start learning about the concept of Mirror Equations.

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