Variables act as placeholders

When you create and name a variable, you're creating a placeholder for the value that you want to store. Let's take the following simple math equation as an example:

2 + 9 = 11

Okay, no mystery here, but what if we wanted the number 9 to be its variable? Consider the following code block:

myVariable = 9

Now we can use the variable name, myVariable, as a substitute for 9 anywhere we need it:

2 + myVariable = 11

Even though this example isn't real C# code, it illustrates the power of variables and their use as placeholder references. In the next section you'll start creating variables of your own, so keep on rolling!