While you have measured the resistance of a resistor, you can also use the color of the stripes on a resistor to approximate the value of the resistor.

Grey Gold Silver

Example 1: The color stripes on a certain resistor are brown, black, red, and gold. Ist stripe: brown 1 2nd stripe: black 0 3rd stripe: red 2 4th stripe: gold ± 5% R = 10 X 102 = 10 x 100 = 1000 Ω 5% of 1000 Ω = 50 Ω R should fall between 950 Ω and 1050 Ω.

Example 2: The color stripes on a certain resistor are yellow, violet, orange, and silver. Ist stripe: yellow = 4 2nd stripe: violet = 7 3rd stripe: orange 3 4th stripe: silver = 10% R = 47 x 103 = 47 x 1000 = 47,000 Ω 10% of 47 kΩ = 4700 Ω R should fall between 42,300 Ω and 51700 Ω

Example 3: The color stripes on a certain resistor are brown, gray, brown, with no fourth stripe. 1st stripe: brown = I 2nd stripe: gray = 8 3rd stripe: brown = I 4th missing: 20% R = 18 x 101 = 18 x 10 = 180 Ω 20% of 180 Ω = 36 Ω R should fall between 144 Ω and 216 Ω.

That’s all Folks!