Law of Cartesian

Cartesian Sign Convention: In the case of spherical mirror all signs are taken from Pole of the spherical mirror, which is often called origin or origin point. This sign convention is known as New Cartesian Sign Convention.

Sign is taken as – (negative) from pole of a spherical mirror towards object along the principal axis. This means sign is always taken as – (negative) in front of a spherical mirror. For example; the distance of object is always taken as – (negative) in case of both types of spherical mirror, i.e. concave and convex mirrors.

• Sign is taken as + (positive) behind the spherical mirror. For example if an image is formed behind the mirror, the distance of image is taken as + (positive) from pole along the principal axis.
• The height of is taken as + (positive) above the principal axis and taken as – (negative) below the principal axis.