Gary, that's right. You have to touch the pad for the burner you want to turn on, then the display next to it shows "0" and then you have to touch one of the numbers from "1" to "9" on the center section of the touchpad. "1" being "warm" and "9" being "high". While this works like an infinite switch by cycling on and off the burner but it has just nine heat selections.
It works the same for the broiler control but with "1" being "Rare" (high) and "5" being "Well" (low) and there are just 5 selections.
The numbers on the touchpad are also used to set the oven temperature, the clock, the oven start and stop times, the minute timer and the surface timer (the two left surface units can be set to turn off automatically).
John, I don't have any Cookmates and the few flat-bottomed utensils I have have aluminum bottoms (I also have a copper-bottomed Revere Ware set...) so I really don't have anything good to cook on this (and that Stainless Steel Presto I got from you works great on Radiantubes but I don't think it would make good contact on a smooth top!).