In relation to pulleys, what does the mechanical advantage (MA) represent?

Mechanical advantage (MA) in the context of pulleys is primarily defined as the ratio of output to input force. In simpler terms, it measures how much a pulley system amplifies the force applied to it. In systems with multiple pulley strands, this advantage is directly related to the number of strands that are actively supporting the load.

When you have a pulley system with multiple strands, each strand shares the load, reducing the amount of force needed to lift the load compared to what you would have to exert without the pulley system. Therefore, as you increase the number of supporting strands, you increase the mechanical advantage, allowing a smaller input force to lift a heavier load.

This means that the correct understanding of MA reflects how efficiently a pulley system can convert the applied effort into useful work, which is fundamentally linked to the number of strands in play.