From: Optical@Guy.com   
      
   Salmon Egg wrote:   
      
   > > My basic question was - do reading glasses perform any sort of   
   > > magnification (when worn on your nose such that the lenses are   
   > > located a fraction of an inch in front of your eyes) ?   
   >   
   > If you want to be technical about it, define what you mean by   
   > "magnification." Better yet, define what you mean by "no   
   > magnification."   
      
   By magnification, I mean an apparent change to the size of an object or   
   text held in front of your face.  To "magnify", as in "to make larger",   
   without physically moving the object or text closer to your eyes.   
      
   There are people that believe that "reading glasses" have some inherent   
   magnification properties, or that they accomplish the task of making   
   text easier to read because they magnify the text, and that reading   
   glasses are labelled in terms of their magnification "strength" (1.0,   
   1.25, 1.5, etc) and that constitutes some sort of "proof" that they are   
   indeed performing some sort of magnification as an intrisic or necessary   
   aspect of their functionality.   
      
   I argue with those people, by trying to show them how the apparent size   
   of closely-held text does not change when reading glasses are quickly   
   moved in front of and away from the eyes, and they seem to not   
   appreciate that clarity of text is more significant compared to any   
   subtle change of text size when these glasses are worn.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)