This gives reasonably good results (in MATLAB)
a = ones(40,1) + rand(40,1)*0.1-0.05; % The resistors
vec = zeros(40,2); % Initialize matrix
indices = zeros(40,2); % Initialize matrix
a = sort(a); % Sort vector of resistors
for ii = 1:length(a)
vec(ii,:) = [a(ii) a(ii)]; % Assign resistor values to row ii of vec
indices(ii,:) = [ii,ii]; % Corresponding resistor number (index)
for jj = 1:length(a)
if sum(abs((a(ii)+a(jj))-2*mean(a))) < abs(sum(vec(ii,:))-2*mean(a))
vec(ii,:) = [a(ii) a(jj)]; % Check if the new set is better than the
indices(ii,:) = [ii, jj]; % previous, and update vec and indices if true.
end
end
end
[x, idx] = sort(sum(vec')'); % Sort the sum of the pairs
final_list = indices(idx); % The indices of the sorted pairs
This is the result when I plot it: