PHPMyAdmin: what is the "MySQL application password for phpmyadmin"?

[stupidquestion]

During PHPMyAdmin installation, it first asks for the existing MySQL root password, but then it asks for a second password called "MySQL application password for phpmyadmin". The text provided was "please provide a password for phpmyadmin to register with the database server. If left blank, a random password will be generated".

What is this password used for? I noticed I can log in from the phpmyadmin web homepage without using this second password.

[nerdtron]

not using phpmyadmin but you can login to the mysql via command line,
then see it the phpmyadmin already has a user

mysql> use mysql;
mysql> select user,host,password from user;

If so, then you just set a new password:

mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('passxxx');

[stupidquestion]

thanks, I realized that "phpmyadmin" is a user in the mysql database.