About ideal mechanical advantage for an inclined plane

[FisherDude]

the formula for the IMA for an inclined plane is 1/sin(theta)...right? But what if the angle was zero (which would mean it is not an inclined plane), then you wouldn't be able to divide by zero...so how would you get the IMA if the angle was zero?

I am very very confused about this...any help would be much appreciated.

 

[sekar507]

the formula wat u have mentioned is applicable for an inclined plane... ie when we use an inclined plane for lifting a object of mass 'm' through a height 'h'. In general mechanical advantage is defined as the ratio of resistance force divided by the effort u apply... ie its the number of times the machine makes ur work simple.. if the angle is zero... it is clear that you don't need to lift the object... hence the application of inclined plane concept is ruled out...

 

[FisherDude]

Yeah, that's what I guessed at...so in this case the IMA and AMA would just be 1? since there wouldn't be any advantage or disadvantage to using a machine to drag the object across the surface?