You have a cable with 3 wires inside and if they were color coded like , it would be easy to tell which wires are which.
![cable with three wire](http://puzzle.queryhome.com/?qa=blob&qa_blobid=15299494829106935756)
However, suppose they aren't color coded. If all you have is a potentiometer, which can detect if two ends of a wire are connected or not, what is the minimum number of times you would need to hook up the potentiometer in order to guarantee the determination of which wires on one end connect to which wires on the other end?