Past exam of the physics 2 paper of the University of Oxford / 2016 / 10 / a

Adopt positive object and real-image distances $u$ and $v$ measured from a converging thin lens, with the object on the left. A ray through the lens centre is undeviated in the thin-lens approximation. For object height $h$ and signed image height $h^{\prime }$, similar triangles give $h^{\prime }/h=-v/u$.

A second ray leaves the object parallel to the axis, reaches the lens at height $h$ and then passes through the far focal point. Its height at distance $v$ is $h^{\prime }=h(1-v/f)$. Equating the two descriptions givesThe signed transverse magnification is $\boxed{m=h^{\prime }/h=-v/u}$. Since a real image has $v>0$ for $u>0$, $m<0$: it is inverted. Its size relative to the object is $|m|=v/u$.

The derivation assumes the paraxial approximation, a negligible lens thickness and a focal length defined in the surrounding medium. The ray diagrams show actual paths as solid lines and backward extrapolations as dashed lines.