charlesmorris> This sounds interesting. Any ideas why? Sure. Resistors are the same for the same reason: the manufacturing process trims them, and when the measurement says the thing is in spec, the trim stops. So you tend to get values close to the tolerance limits. Another mechanism that produces this: if you sort devices into several bins according to how tight the tolerances are, you end up with a hole in the middle of the distribution because all those parts go into the tighter tolerance (higher price) bin. paul