Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!nntp.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Christopher Howard Newsgroups: sci.electronics.design Subject: one potentiometer dividing multiple signals Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 07:21:51 -0800 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 15 Message-ID: <87ldfr6bqo.fsf@librehacker.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 15:21:52 +0000 (UTC) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="6e24e2c52a9a9724ed2ccded4db142ff"; logging-data="2197256"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX19zne3QQeABkRRcvLrZ3ADjTLLjtgnoek8=" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Cancel-Lock: sha1:1deXCaSzG+hGafmyDLW7Gqcs8Fs= sha1:hU+8A9ojKP39lo9KenDmKXgqDtY= Xref: csiph.com sci.electronics.design:741707 In my analog computer setup, a very common thing is to use potentiometers as coefficients, i.e., as voltage dividers that attenuate an input signal. But something wasteful about this is that sometimes multiple different signals have to be divided by the same coefficient — for example, dividing various forces by the mass of the object. So, I have to use multiple potentiometers for that, and I have to keep them set to the same value. So, I was wondering what would be the simplest analog approach to get around this problem, without having to use expensive multiplier/dividers. Maybe just have one potentiometer connected to a bunch of cheap transistors? -- Christopher Howard