Q. How does a magnifying mirror work?

Answer

These magnifying mirrors are concave mirrors, so to understand how magnification happens, we need to understand the design and reflections of a concave mirror. In order to achieve magnification, the relative placement of the object with respect to the centre point of the concave mirror is important. To figure out magnification, one must understand the light ray diagram. When an object is placed at infinity, then parallel light rays are hitting the concave surface, and the image is produced at the focus. The image is real but as a point. When the object is placed between infinity and centre of curvature, there is a formation of a real image between focus and curvature centre. No magnification is achieved. When the object is placed on the curvature centre, then a real inverted image is obtained exactly of the same size at the same point. However, when an object is placed ahead of the centre of curvature, then any image that is formed is magnified and the image is real. This is how a magnifying mirror works