A glance at Figure 24-11 suggests that the focal length is about half as great as the radius of curvature. In fact, for a concave mirror small enough that all rays parallel to the principal axis are focused at the focal point, the focal length is exactly half of the radius:
Equation 24-3 says that the tighter the curve of a spherical mirror and hence the smaller the radius of curvature r, the shorter the focal length \(f\). (We’ll prove the relationship \(f = r/2\) in Section 24-4.)