  In order to get a significant Zeeman signature in the polarised spectra of a
magnetic star, we usually 'add' the contributions of numerous spectral lines;
the ultimate goal is to recover the spectropolarimetric prints of the magnetic
field in these line additions. Here we want to clarify the meaning of these
techniques of line addition; in particular, we try to interpret the meaning of
the 'pseudo-line' formed during this process and to find out why and how its
Zeeman signature is still meaningful. We create a synthetic case of line
addition and apply well tested standard solar methods routinely used in the
research on magnetism in our nearest star. The results are convincing and the
Zeeman signatures well detected; Solar methods are found to be quite efficient
also for stellar observations. We statistically compare line addition with
least-squares deconvolution and demonstrate that they both give very similar
results as a consequence of the special statistical properties of the weights.
The Zeeman signatures are unequivocally detected in this multiline approach. We
may anticipate the outcome that magnetic field detection is reliable well
beyond the weak-field approximation. Linear polarisation in the spectra of
solar type stars can be detected when the spectral resolution is sufficiently
high.
