The discussion centers on the radii of curvature of spherical surfaces in lenses, emphasizing that they are not the same for a lens with a specific focal length. It explains that interchanging the surfaces facing the object and image affects the image position, as the lens can be treated as a composite system represented by 2x2 matrices. The multiplication of these matrices shows that the order matters, indicating that ABC is generally not equal to CBA. A special case exists where this equality holds, requiring specific relationships between the radii of curvature. Understanding the matrix multiplication is key to grasping the implications for image formation in lenses.