Understand how light bends through symmetrical optical instruments and how to minimize image errors.
This classic work presents clear, practical formulas for refraction, the behavior of complex lens systems, and the effect of surface shape on performance. It lays a solid foundation for analyzing and designing optical instruments with precision and insight.
Written with the precision of early 20th‑century optics, the text covers analytical and approximate methods for predicting ray paths, the role of equivalent thin lenses, and the behavior of reflecting and refracting surfaces. It blends theory with workable approaches you can apply to real optical design problems.
- Learn approximate and exact formulas for refraction through multi‑surface systems
- See how a sequence of refracting surfaces can be analyzed with a common normal
- Explore the concept and limits of the equivalent thin lens for complex instruments
- Understand how aberrations, focal lines, and normals affect image quality in both refracting and reflecting instruments
Ideal for readers of engineering and physics who want a rigorous, hands‑on approach to optical design and analysis.
Originally published in 1928, this book deals with the physical and mathematical aspects of the symmetrical optical system. Steward's explanation is taken in part from lectures delivered to students of mathematics and physics at the University of Cambridge in the early twentieth century.