Suppose you are doing a physics lab that asks you to put a resistor into a circuit, but all the resistors supplied have a larger resistance than the requested value. How would you connect the available resistances to attempt to get the smaller value asked for?

The term "circuit" refers to a set of electrical connections.

Circuits are closed-loop or route systems that consist of a network of electrical components through which electrons can travel.

Equivalent Resistance in series$={\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{series}}$

Equivalent Resistance in parallel$={\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{parallel}}$

Let the available resistances be ${\mathrm{R}}_1,{\mathrm{R}}_2,{\mathrm{R}}_3$and so on.

Equivalent resistance in series is given:

${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{eq}}={\mathrm{R}}_1+{\mathrm{R}}_2+{\mathrm{R}}_3+1/4$

Equivalent resistance in parallel is given:

$\frac{1}{R_{eq}}=\frac{1}{R_1}+\frac{1}{R_2}+\frac{1}{R_3}+1/4$

The equivalent resistance in series is more than any of the available resistance, and the equivalent resistance in parallel is greater than any of the available resistance, according to the equivalent resistance formula. As a result, to reduce the resistance value, we must connect the available resistances in parallel.

Therefore, the available resistors must be connected in parallel.