- published: 29 May 2014
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In optics, the f-number (sometimes called focal ratio, f-ratio, f-stop, or relative aperture) of an optical system is the ratio of the lens's focal length to the diameter of the entrance pupil. It is a dimensionless number that is a quantitative measure of lens speed, an important concept in photography.
The f-number is given by
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The pupil diameter is proportional to the diameter of the aperture stop of the system. In a camera, this is typically the diaphragm aperture, which can be adjusted to vary the size of the pupil, and hence the amount of light that reaches the film or image sensor. The common assumption in photography that the pupil diameter is equal to the aperture diameter is not correct for many types of camera lens, because of the magnifying effect of lens elements in front of the aperture.
A 100 mm focal length lens with an aperture setting of f/4 will have a pupil diameter of 25 mm. A 200 mm focal length lens with a setting of f/4 will have a pupil diameter of 50 mm. The 200 mm lens's f/4 opening is larger than that of the 100 mm lens but both will produce the same illuminance in the focal plane when imaging an object of a given luminance.
A number is a mathematical object used to count and measure. In mathematics, the definition of number has been extended over the years to include such numbers as zero, negative numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, and complex numbers.
Mathematical operations are certain procedures that take one or more numbers as input and produce a number as output. Unary operations take a single input number and produce a single output number. For example, the successor operation adds one to an integer, thus the successor of 4 is 5. Binary operations take two input numbers and produce a single output number. Examples of binary operations include addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponentiation. The study of numerical operations is called arithmetic.
A notational symbol that represents a number is called a numeral. In addition to their use in counting and measuring, numerals are often used for labels (telephone numbers), for ordering (serial numbers), and for codes (e.g., ISBNs).