Bell curves are usually not centered on the mean or median. This is a statistical fact.
In order for a distribution to be a bell curve it is, by definition, centered on its mean.
From The Wikipedia article "Normal distribution"
In probability theory and statistics, the normal distribution or Gaussian distribution is a continuous probability distribution that describes data that cluster around the mean. The graph of the associated probability density function is bell-shaped, with a peak at the mean, and is known as the Gaussian function or bell curve.
I propose that the Bell Curve is cut by zero at around 2 standard deviations below the mean. In other words, while it is a perfect Bell Curve, you'd have to draw the bottom portion of it as an imaginary curve below zero strength.
If not that, then it must be a relative scale, where each movement away from the mean is a proportional one, rather than an absolute one.
Remember, RJ's 21 level scale isn't supposed to be superimposed on the Bell Curve. The Bell Curve is merely another, independent tool to represent the channeling population.
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
- 1416 Views
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
- 884 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
- 887 Views
The Tower is restricted to the middle...
18/12/2009 05:35:03 PM
- 968 Views
Two things...
18/12/2009 09:28:25 PM
- 800 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
- 895 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
- 795 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
- 782 Views
Well, the Aes Sedai are the only group that we have detailed strength info about...
18/12/2009 10:26:48 PM
- 881 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
- 860 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
- 775 Views
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
- 783 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
- 761 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
- 712 Views
Mathmatically this is very close to the system I proposed in another thread
27/12/2009 01:23:51 AM
- 724 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
- 1078 Views