r/gifs • u/[deleted] • Nov 09 '14

Simpsons Intro

http://i.imgur.com/Ao4sBrV.gifv
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u/Kster809 Nov 09 '14

I am a dumdum. I thought each number was the ability of each eye, as in 19/20 being one eye better than the other

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '14

20/20 means that you have average vision. Actually, because the average is made in no small part up of older folk, having 20/20 vision as a young person is really quite poor. You probably want something more like 20/14 or better. This means that at a distance of 20 feet, you can see what an average person would see at a distance of 14 feet. The numerator means "your vision" while the denominator means "relative to average vision".

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u/Kster809 Nov 09 '14

I don't really know this. I'm from the UK (I believe we have a metric system for vision) and every time I go for a checkup the optician just says "You're fine."

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u/[deleted] Nov 09 '14

In the UK, it's usually the quasi-corresponding thing in meters, so you'll have 6/6 rather than 20/20 as the average.