Try it

Band 1 (1st digit)

Brown

Band 2 (2nd digit)

Black

Band 3 (3rd digit)

Black

Band 4 (multiplier)

Brown

Band 5 (tolerance)

Brown

Resistance1 kΩ
Tolerance± 1%
Range990 Ω to 1.01 kΩ

Understand the result

What's going on

Precision resistors need more than two significant digits to say what they mean, so they trade one of the multiplier’s shortcuts for an extra digit of accuracy. Same idea as the 4-band code, one more band of resolution.

The formula

R = (D1 × 100 + D2 × 10 + D3) × Multiplier

D1, D2, and D3 are the first three digits, read from the band nearest the resistor’s edge inward.

Show the derivation, mnemonic, and worked example

Build it up

Where a 4-band resistor spells out a two-digit number, a 5-band resistor spells out three digits before the multiplier kicks in. That’s the whole difference - everything else about reading the bands works exactly the same way, left to right.

Worked example

Worked example

Bands: Brown, Black, Black, Brown, Brown

Digits: 1, 0, 0 → 100

Multiplier: Brown → ×10

R = 100 × 10 = 1,000 Ω = 1 kΩ ± 1%