What does variable resistor actually mean? Find out inside PCMag's comprehensive tech and computer-related encyclopedia.

Higher tier - variable resistor; Higher tier - variable resistor. Moving the position of the slider on this resistor, changes the length of wire in the circuit which changes the resistance.

The point is the topology doesn’t vary. All (or at least most) conform faithfully to Figure 1. This surprising uniformity becomes very useful if your application requires DAC control of the output ...