COMPOUND MICROSCOPES are so called because they are designed with a compound lens system.  The objective lens provides the primary magnification which is compounded (multiplied) by the ocular lens (eyepiece).  Visual information produced by compound microscopes are two dimensional, as opposed to those produced by stereomicroscopes which are three dimensional.  Most provide an image which is upside down and backward as compared to the actual orientation of the object.  Compound microscopes usually have several objectives in magnifications ranging from about 4x to 100x.  Eyepieces are commonly 10x resulting in total magnifications of 40x to 1000x (Objective x Eyepiece). Compound microscopes may be upright or inverted. There are a variety of microscopy techniques available for compound microscopes, many of which are discussed below. In addition, more on STEREOMICROSCOPES may also be found below.