Final answer:
Setting a document to a 50% zoom percentage makes it appear smaller, offering a wider range of view but with reduced size, analogous to a lower magnification setting on a microscope or viewing an image farther from a lens.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a document is set to a 50% zoom percentage, it appears smaller than its actual size. This is because the zoom function is used to increase or decrease the magnification of content on the screen. At 50%, you are essentially reducing the size to half of its normal viewing size. This smaller view provides you with a wider range of view, much like how adjusting the magnification on a microscope to a lower setting would show more of the slide but at a smaller size.
An image at a negative magnification, for example, would be inverted and proportionally smaller in height compared to the actual object. When considering virtual and real images through lenses, a smaller zoom percentage would be analogous to an image formed at a farther distance from a lens, compared to its object size.