Binocular Magnification

[David55]

A very simple and perhaps silly question. When one describes magnification, for example 8x, does this mean that both the length and breadth of the object are both 8 times the original (meaning the area of a square object would be 64 time the original), or does it mean that the area of the object is 8 times the original (meaning that the length an breadth of an object are just less than 3 times the original)?

[ollypenrice]

It's the length and breadth of the image formed on the retina. This is why the term 'magnification' can be used meaningfully in visual use but not in photographic, since there is no 'starting point' for the image formed on a camera chip.

Olly

[BinocularSky]

Just to add to what Olly said, in old fashioned parlance it was "diameters" (i.e. equivalent to your "length and breadth"). Nowadays it is defined as (angle subtended by the image) /(angle subtended by the object).

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[Charic]

David55.........Hi..... just  a little more. No questions are silly, and  if it leaves you wondering, just keep asking! We can all learn from others and from our selves.

My answer to your question is that 8x means  that what your looking at, is eight times closer  to you,  by comparison  to the naked eye which is regarded as `Zero` magnification.