  The solar X-ray continuum emission at five wavelengths between 3.495
Angstroms and 4.220 Angstroms for 19 flares in a seven-month period in
2002--2003 was observed by the RESIK crystal spectrometer on CORONAS-F. In this
wavelength region, free--free and free--bound emissions have comparable fluxes.
With a pulse-height analyzer having settings close to optimal, the fluorescence
background was removed so that RESIK measured true solar continuum in these
bands with an uncertainty in the absolute calibration of plus or minus 20 per
cent. With an isothermal assumption, and temperature and emission measure
derived from the ratio of the two GOES channels, the observed continuum
emission normalized to an emission measure of 10^48 cm^-3 was compared with
theoretical continua using the CHIANTI atomic code. The accuracy of the RESIK
measurements allows photospheric and coronal abundance sets, important for the
free--bound continuum, to be discriminated. It is found that there is agreement
to about 25 per cent of the measured continua with those calculated from
CHIANTI assuming coronal abundances in which Mg, Si, Fe abundances are four
times photospheric.

Solar and Stellar Astrophysics