You said that the Tower doesn't restrict women of higher strength. But the sample population of the Tower, ie. the thousand channelers we see, are skewed towards the center, with no one of very great strength or very great weakness. Which means Moiraine is not very far above the average of 50, and Egwene is clearly above it while Nynaeve and her ilk are far above it and closer to the upper end of the range.
It works really well if you make increments of 4.75. That gives us 21 levels, and you can place strong Aes Sedai like Anaiya or Myrelle or Sheriam at 50, and the list is quite good, in that case.
Edited to add... RJ never spoke of any relative strength scale. He said channeler strength is distributed over 21 levels, and that the channeling population follows a bell curve. Both statements refer to no mysterious relative scale.
The conclusion is rather inescapable... given the bell curve, a woman like Moiraine will have an effective strength greater than 50, but not much so.
And I'd like to know why this seems impossible. RJ made many comparisons between OP strength and actual strength. If you look at actual strength, the average man is likely to be half as strong as the strongest man. And that gap is still huge, still good enough to explain the great differences we see between the strongest and weakest channelers.
It works really well if you make increments of 4.75. That gives us 21 levels, and you can place strong Aes Sedai like Anaiya or Myrelle or Sheriam at 50, and the list is quite good, in that case.
Edited to add... RJ never spoke of any relative strength scale. He said channeler strength is distributed over 21 levels, and that the channeling population follows a bell curve. Both statements refer to no mysterious relative scale.
The conclusion is rather inescapable... given the bell curve, a woman like Moiraine will have an effective strength greater than 50, but not much so.
And I'd like to know why this seems impossible. RJ made many comparisons between OP strength and actual strength. If you look at actual strength, the average man is likely to be half as strong as the strongest man. And that gap is still huge, still good enough to explain the great differences we see between the strongest and weakest channelers.
This message last edited by fionwe1987 on 18/12/2009 at 05:39:03 PM
The One Power Bell Curve: Proof that it is not centered on 50% of the strongest channeler's strength
18/12/2009 08:37:55 AM
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I always thought the curve was one sided
18/12/2009 01:17:32 PM
- 811 Views
The Curve only refers to the channeling population, not to non-channelers.
18/12/2009 01:56:25 PM
- 816 Views
I would say that your sample is flawed.
18/12/2009 05:02:02 PM
- 885 Views
It doesn't matter...
18/12/2009 10:02:38 PM
- 745 Views
But, it sort of does.
18/12/2009 10:43:08 PM
- 804 Views
So you're saying that no modern Aes Sedai are even of average strength?
18/12/2009 10:51:01 PM
- 890 Views
The Tower is restricted to the middle...
18/12/2009 05:35:03 PM
- 969 Views
Two things...
18/12/2009 09:28:25 PM
- 802 Views
The culling theory...
18/12/2009 09:36:34 PM
- 750 Views
The culling theory applies to the ENTIRE population, not just Aes Sedai...
18/12/2009 09:42:31 PM
- 871 Views
Several more things...
18/12/2009 11:26:19 PM
- 899 Views
You don't understand your own model...
18/12/2009 11:38:05 PM
- 917 Views
So RJ was wrong about Bell Curve distribution?
19/12/2009 06:03:24 PM
- 809 Views
So, Aviendha trumps RJ? A woman who, as late as tGS, doesn't know what she's doing with the OP?
19/12/2009 06:12:42 PM
- 796 Views
Age-Related Sample Bias
18/12/2009 06:41:03 PM
- 762 Views
I have no problem with that...but it implies that the average woman today isn't at 50% of Lanfear...
18/12/2009 09:46:00 PM
- 885 Views
Partially agreed...
18/12/2009 10:13:46 PM
- 784 Views
Well, the Aes Sedai are the only group that we have detailed strength info about...
18/12/2009 10:26:48 PM
- 883 Views
Sharina is AS ... she'd be dead in a few years if she hadn't gone to the Tower *NM*
28/12/2009 01:08:20 AM
- 861 Views
A thought that occured to me, and I'd like your opinion...
18/12/2009 07:38:29 PM
- 764 Views
Is it just my bad memory or is one of the wondergirls not a sparker?
18/12/2009 10:12:59 PM
- 752 Views
Easier sulution, and real example.
18/12/2009 10:03:20 PM
- 817 Views
And that is indeed the solution I feel most comfortable with...
18/12/2009 10:08:40 PM
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Re: And that is indeed the solution I feel most comfortable with...
19/12/2009 11:39:31 AM
- 1011 Views
Dude, Seriously?
18/12/2009 10:19:25 PM
- 787 Views
Indeed, and that's why I propose that...
18/12/2009 10:31:23 PM
- 784 Views
So RJ used two separate scales, one actual one relative, to explain the same thing?
18/12/2009 11:33:20 PM
- 743 Views

Yes, "Bell Curve" does not mean Gausian. Or normal distribution.
19/12/2009 11:24:10 PM
- 763 Views
I'm sorry, but I've never heard of a non-Gaussian bell curve. Can you prove its existence? *NM*
20/12/2009 03:24:22 AM
- 438 Views
Maybe people in my field just use the term in a non-technical way. We do things with ...
21/12/2009 07:24:43 PM
- 722 Views
That's because outliers in IQ tests are excluded form the curve. *NM*
18/12/2009 11:31:23 PM
- 443 Views
Re: The One Power Bell Curve: Proof that it is not centered on 50% of the strongest channeler's stre
19/12/2009 06:02:34 PM
- 713 Views
Mathmatically this is very close to the system I proposed in another thread
27/12/2009 01:23:51 AM
- 725 Views
Re: The One Power Bell Curve:
27/12/2009 10:05:33 PM
- 881 Views
What makes you think Alviarin is "middling"?
27/12/2009 10:28:13 PM
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