Lens (geometry)

In geometry

Geometry

Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....

, a lens is a biconvex

Lens (optics)

A lens is an optical device with perfect or approximate axial symmetry which transmits and refracts light, converging or diverging the beam. A simple lens consists of a single optical element...

 shape

Shape

The shape of an object located in some space is a geometrical description of the part of that space occupied by the object, as determined by its external boundary – abstracting from location and orientation in space, size, and other properties such as colour, content, and material...

 comprising two circular

Circle

A circle is a simple shape of Euclidean geometry consisting of those points in a plane that are a given distance from a given point, the centre. The distance between any of the points and the centre is called the radius....

 arc

Arc (geometry)

In geometry, an arc is a closed segment of a differentiable curve in the two-dimensional plane; for example, a circular arc is a segment of the circumference of a circle...

s, joined at their endpoints. If the arcs have equal radii, it is called a symmetric lens.
A concave-convex shape is called a lune

Lune (mathematics)

In geometry, a lune is either of two figures, both shaped roughly like a crescent Moon. The word "lune" derives from luna, the Latin word for Moon.-Plane geometry:...

. The Vesica piscis

Vesica piscis

The vesica piscis is a shape that is the intersection of two circles with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each circle lies on the circumference of the other. The name literally means the "bladder of a fish" in Latin...

is one form of a symmetrical lens; the term is also used for lenses generally.

In common usage, the term "lens" is also used to describe the shape of a three-dimensional object obtained by rotating a two-dimensional lens about its narrow axis of symmetry. Such a shape is described as lenticular.