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Q.Establish the formula for focal length of combination of two thin lenses placed in contact.

Uttar Pradesh UpmspUP Board (UPMSP) Intermediate 2025Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Treat the image of the first lens as the object of the second; adding the two lens equations gives 1F=1f1+1f2\dfrac1F=\dfrac1{f_1}+\dfrac1{f_2}.

Setup. Two thin lenses of focal lengths f1f_1 and f2f_2 are placed in contact on a common axis. Let a point object OO lie at distance uu from the combination.

First lens. It alone would form an image I1I_1 at distance v1v_1:

1v1−1u=1f1.(1)\frac{1}{v_1}-\frac{1}{u}=\frac{1}{f_1}. \qquad (1)

Second lens. Since the lenses touch, I1I_1 acts as the object for the second lens (object distance v1v_1), forming the final image II at distance vv:

1v−1v1=1f2.(2)\frac{1}{v}-\frac{1}{v_1}=\frac{1}{f_2}. \qquad (2)

Add (1) and (2). The 1v1\dfrac{1}{v_1} terms cancel:

1v−1u=1f1+1f2.\frac{1}{v}-\frac{1}{u}=\frac{1}{f_1}+\frac{1}{f_2}.

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