Review Ohm's Law. Do you multiply a voltage and a resistance to get a current?So the current through the pot is just Vi multiplied by the overall pot resistance ?
How did the value of R1 come into play?If I am correct, then yes.
Yes, but does it have any effect on how much current flows in the pot?Not really, if I am looking at the overall resistance of the pot, but if it is all the way at the top then it would virtually short circuit R1 meaning that all of the current would flow through it, wouldn't it?
Even if Rpot = R1, the current Ix depends on the position of the pot -- you yourself just got done pointing out that if the wiper is all the way at the top that there would be no current flowing in R1, meaning that Ix would be zero. But there would still be a current flowing in Rpot, wouldn't there?Well if we say that the total resistance of the pot is Rpot(1-α)+Rpot(α)=Rpot-Rpotα+Rpotα=Rpot Rpot=R (not Rfred but the value of R1) so the current would then be Ix again?