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The Bell Curve explained... Shannow Send a noteboard - 26/10/2012 10:27:34 AM
With Cadsuane mid-to-high 30s, Eg/Avi/El at 40, Nynaeve at 65, etc. Androl, meanwhile, is probably around 4 or 5. I see him as similar to Morgase, only a little more powerful.

The problem with Nynaeve at 65 is that it makes zero sense. She's has about 6 women stronger than her in the entire series, and matches mid-level Foresaken strength. No way is she 65.

And given what we know about strength being a bell curve, there's no way exceptionally strong women like Moiraine are going to be below strength 50, which would be the average strength of all channelers.


Here's what we know:

We know with reasonable certainty that the spread of channeling strength from Daigian to Moiraine is about 3 fold. Meaning that Moiraine is about 3 times as strong as Daigian.

We also know that Daigian is so weak that she is barely above Accepted level (making her the absolute bottom of the Aes Sedai strength range).

So we know that the spread of channeling strength from the weakest modern day sister to the strongest category (which included Moiraine, Romanda, Lelaine, Siuan and Elaida) is 3 fold.

We also know from Siuan, that if she was at two thirds of her old strength, she would be as strong as most sisters.

This gives us the strength level of the average sister, which is two thirds of the Moiraine/Siuan level. Meaning that Moiraine was 50% stronger than the average sister.

We further know that according to Aviendha, Egwene can match or exceed the strength level of Amys plus Melaine combined. Amys is just short of Moiraine's strength, while Melaine is stronger than an average sister. Meaning that at the very least, the two of them combined are about two thirds stronger than Moiraine.

E.G.

If Dagian is a 10

It puts the average sister at 20

Moiraine at 30

Amys plus Melaine at about 50 (which then is roughly Egwene's strength level)

We further learn that Moiraine believes that Egwene plus Aviendha could approach Lanfear in strength.

What do you know. Egwene at 50, plus Aviendha at maybe 40 (she's not at her full potential yet), gives you around 90. Not quite Lanfear's strength, but very close to it.


We also know that Egwene believes that she, Romanda and Lelaine together could possibly match a male Forsaken.

Egwene at 50, plus Romanda and Lelaine each at 30, gives you 110.

What do you know, just enough to match a male Forsaken of Rand's strength level.

We see Flinn - the strongest Ashaman, plus two average sisters, match Demandred very closely. Again, what do you know, 2 average sisters at 20 strength each, plus Flinn at around 55 gives you Demandred level of around 95.

We see 5 sisters barely able to hold Logain, who is presumably around a 90 level channeler.

Even if they are all 5 weaker than average (put them at 15 strength), their shield should still be at around 75 strength. And we know that you can be weaker than someone and still hold them shielded if they aren't embracing the source. So a strength of 75 is pretty much spot on to be borderline between what Logain could break free from.

The examples go on and on.

Together it makes a pretty much irrefutable case that the Bell Curve can only fit if the average strength female is around Egwene's level and all modern Aes Sedai fall well below average.

The conclusion is that the Bell Curve applies to the channeling population of the Age of Legends, at which time Egwene would have been an average strength channeler at exactly half the strength of the strongest possible woman.

And all modern Aes Sedai would have been considered below average by some margin. In fact, most of them would have fallen in the lowest 20% of Age of Legends channelers.

This is the only way that all the evidence fits a Bell Curve scenario.
This message last edited by Shannow on 26/10/2012 at 10:29:39 AM
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Ch2 : Pevara & Androl and channeling implications - 24/10/2012 06:40:47 PM 2895 Views
Did Perva actually initiate the link or was it Androl? *NM* - 24/10/2012 07:02:15 PM 742 Views
Androl did. *NM* - 25/10/2012 05:10:31 AM 999 Views
But didn't Nynaeve do it first at the cleansing? - 25/10/2012 12:43:15 PM 1237 Views
Pevara was thinking on very sketchy information. - 25/10/2012 08:56:20 PM 1173 Views
did he start the link? or just take it? - 27/10/2012 07:33:49 AM 874 Views
I think it's slightly off - 28/10/2012 04:21:05 PM 1147 Views
Re: Ch2 : Pevara & Androl and channeling implications - 25/10/2012 05:13:43 AM 1385 Views
Re: Ch2 : Pevara & Androl and channeling implications - 25/10/2012 04:23:20 PM 1194 Views
Re: Ch2 : Pevara & Androl and channeling implications - 25/10/2012 09:52:03 PM 1238 Views
Travelling - 25/10/2012 08:56:41 AM 1234 Views
Yes that's a pet theory of mine - 25/10/2012 04:21:53 PM 1252 Views
Re: Yes that's a pet theory of mine - 25/10/2012 06:12:21 PM 1148 Views
Re: Yes that's a pet theory of mine - 25/10/2012 08:50:15 PM 1088 Views
Re: Yes that's a pet theory of mine - 25/10/2012 09:45:26 PM 1174 Views
Weren't there 150 or so at Maradon? *NM* - 26/10/2012 03:29:53 PM 654 Views
Re: Yes that's a pet theory of mine - 26/10/2012 08:49:58 PM 1286 Views
Perhaps, but if no on in the AoL could do it when mixed circles were common - 28/10/2012 04:22:20 PM 966 Views
How strong Pevara is... - 25/10/2012 07:08:26 PM 1316 Views
I'm pretty sure Moiraine is closer to 30... - 25/10/2012 07:41:37 PM 1032 Views
Agreed - 25/10/2012 08:37:24 PM 1120 Views
So... the old story of ignore the bell curve, eh? - 26/10/2012 01:40:49 AM 1089 Views
No, I fully respect the bell curve - 26/10/2012 01:51:34 PM 1141 Views
That was disproved long ago... - 26/10/2012 01:36:24 AM 1107 Views
But Moiraine isn't 'exceptionally strong' - 26/10/2012 05:16:10 AM 1151 Views
Not particularly strong evidence for that last. - 26/10/2012 05:36:54 AM 1102 Views
But we know that it takes significantly more strength to maintain multiple weaves - 26/10/2012 08:14:58 AM 1016 Views
Not true - 27/10/2012 09:15:51 PM 1025 Views
Not accurate - 27/10/2012 09:31:05 PM 1015 Views
The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 10:27:34 AM 1071 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 11:40:04 AM 1071 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 12:32:01 PM 994 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 12:48:51 PM 1103 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 01:07:39 PM 1086 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 01:18:32 PM 1109 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 26/10/2012 01:57:18 PM 1154 Views
Re: The Bell Curve explained... - 28/10/2012 02:07:39 PM 839 Views
Yet Sharina, Nynaeve etc exist, thus the BC is the same - 27/10/2012 09:39:58 PM 1190 Views
The curve is OBVIOUSLY the same... - 28/10/2012 01:50:37 AM 954 Views
Re: The curve is OBVIOUSLY the same... - 28/10/2012 02:01:59 PM 1043 Views
You need to go read RJ's quotes: - 28/10/2012 02:41:49 PM 1058 Views
Re: You need to go read RJ's quotes: - 28/10/2012 05:39:12 PM 965 Views
I need to come and save you from blatant fallacies being spouted by the loonies. - 28/10/2012 05:56:21 PM 976 Views
This is like watching a train-wreck. - 29/10/2012 02:58:51 AM 934 Views
Re: This is like watching a train-wreck. - 29/10/2012 01:10:35 PM 1151 Views
So what's your conclusion? - 29/10/2012 02:14:33 PM 931 Views
His conclusion is that RJ was right about the books he wrote... - 29/10/2012 02:19:59 PM 1056 Views
Pretty much... - 30/10/2012 12:57:41 AM 1147 Views
Excellent points... - 29/10/2012 02:16:39 PM 915 Views
Re: Excellent points... - 29/10/2012 02:47:30 PM 1040 Views
You seem confused. - 29/10/2012 03:22:47 PM 916 Views
Re: You seem confused. - 29/10/2012 03:41:48 PM 968 Views
I think the point is that the AS didn't go force every woman in the area - 29/10/2012 07:57:59 PM 911 Views
Re: You seem confused. - 29/10/2012 08:23:22 PM 1063 Views
Re: You seem confused. - 29/10/2012 08:57:11 PM 1058 Views
He drew graphs! - 30/10/2012 12:49:09 AM 940 Views
Re: He drew graphs! - 30/10/2012 07:43:54 AM 998 Views
Re: He drew graphs! - 30/10/2012 01:57:05 PM 961 Views
Re: Excellent points... - 30/10/2012 12:20:00 AM 990 Views
Re: Excellent points... - 30/10/2012 07:49:57 AM 1002 Views
Re: Excellent points... - 30/10/2012 01:05:45 PM 1339 Views
Re: Excellent points... - 30/10/2012 01:25:11 PM 1020 Views
Re: Excellent points... - 30/10/2012 12:20:17 AM 1093 Views
AS recruiting is minimal - 28/10/2012 10:41:29 PM 969 Views
Re: You need to go read RJ's quotes: - 29/10/2012 02:23:27 AM 969 Views
Re: You need to go read RJ's quotes: - 29/10/2012 07:33:44 AM 968 Views
Huh? - 29/10/2012 02:26:27 PM 976 Views
Re: Huh? - 29/10/2012 02:42:07 PM 943 Views
You don't seem to know what random means... - 29/10/2012 03:25:57 PM 955 Views
Re: You don't seem to know what random means... - 29/10/2012 03:36:45 PM 985 Views
Personally I just think that 1000 women being allowed to tag along is a drop - 29/10/2012 08:05:33 PM 1006 Views
Re: Personally I just think that 1000 women being allowed to tag along is a drop - 29/10/2012 09:04:02 PM 1024 Views
Geography alone can do this - 30/10/2012 12:39:53 AM 961 Views
Re: Geography alone can do this - 30/10/2012 09:45:58 AM 947 Views
Not really - 30/10/2012 02:49:05 PM 937 Views
Here's why its not random... - 30/10/2012 01:04:18 AM 933 Views
Re: Here's why its not random... - 30/10/2012 09:42:35 AM 1075 Views
Re: Here's why its not random... - 30/10/2012 01:51:03 PM 931 Views
Re: Here's why its not random... - 30/10/2012 02:21:04 PM 974 Views
YEah, there's no point debating this... - 30/10/2012 02:46:39 PM 939 Views
Genetics plays a role - 30/10/2012 03:03:41 PM 1083 Views
Re: You don't seem to know what random means... - 29/10/2012 08:22:40 PM 920 Views
Re: You don't seem to know what random means... - 29/10/2012 09:06:08 PM 965 Views
Why must there be a mechanism? - 30/10/2012 01:06:29 AM 945 Views
Re: Why must there be a mechanism? - 30/10/2012 09:48:16 AM 867 Views
Nope... - 30/10/2012 01:43:56 PM 1077 Views
Re: Nope... - 30/10/2012 02:34:51 PM 927 Views
Oh my... - 30/10/2012 02:50:12 PM 991 Views
Thought experment time! Hurrah! - 30/10/2012 03:27:01 PM 941 Views
But it is still possible in your example to get wildly varied results - 30/10/2012 03:30:59 PM 889 Views
Re: But it is still possible in your example to get wildly varied results - 30/10/2012 03:36:03 PM 975 Views
LOL - 30/10/2012 04:49:06 PM 1508 Views
Re: Yet Sharina, Nynaeve etc exist, thus the BC is the same - 28/10/2012 01:39:55 PM 936 Views
The point is there are still people being born in the highest strength categories - 28/10/2012 04:18:55 PM 985 Views
Re: The point is there are still people being born in the highest strength categories - 28/10/2012 05:21:44 PM 971 Views
The curve hasn't shifted! - 28/10/2012 05:39:42 PM 1053 Views
The fact is, Moiraine is not half as strong as Lanfear, hence she is below average strength. - 28/10/2012 06:02:04 PM 1012 Views
How is this fact? - 29/10/2012 02:59:49 AM 1010 Views
Re: How is this fact? - 29/10/2012 07:04:15 PM 987 Views
Not so - 29/10/2012 08:09:29 PM 952 Views
Re: Not so - 29/10/2012 08:43:16 PM 1026 Views
Sure it is - 30/10/2012 01:43:39 AM 922 Views
Explain Elza-Merise-Cadsuane then... - 29/10/2012 08:20:14 PM 952 Views
Re: Explain Elza-Merise-Cadsuane then... - 29/10/2012 08:38:11 PM 985 Views
Are you blind man? - 30/10/2012 01:12:26 AM 986 Views
Re: Are you blind man? - 30/10/2012 09:23:37 AM 1023 Views
Cadsuane is just below Egwene... - 30/10/2012 01:37:54 PM 953 Views
Your strength scores don't square with the Pevara quote - 30/10/2012 03:15:22 PM 958 Views
Re: The curve hasn't shifted! - 28/10/2012 07:36:36 PM 984 Views
On Raw strength scores I think you are pretty inline with my thinking - 27/10/2012 09:37:25 PM 1120 Views
And the facing a Foresaken comment is out of context anyway... - 28/10/2012 01:56:12 AM 1075 Views
Excellent point on raw v. Effective strength *NM* - 28/10/2012 04:13:21 PM 651 Views

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