MyHeritage cM Explainer is a new tool to help you better estimate relationships between DNA matches. Read more about the MyHeritage cM Explainer and how it will benefit your DNA research.
The MyHeritage cM Explainer™ is a FREE new feature that estimates familial relationships between DNA matches. cM Explainer™ offers detailed predictions of possible relationships between two people and the respective probabilities of the relationships.
What makes THIS DNA relationship tool stand out is that it estimates the generation of connection between two matches by using their ages. Generation of connection is something Diahan talks about in Your DNA Guide–the Book. It’s the generation where your family tree intersects with your DNA’s family tree. It’s where you’ll find the identity of your shared most recent common ancestor (MRCA). estimating the most recent common ancestor level (e.g. great-grandparent) between the two people and displaying a diagram to show the proposed relationship.
MyHeritage cM Explainer: How to Use It
There are two ways to use the cM Explainer™. First, it’s fully integrated into the MyHeritage platform and can be used by anyone with DNA matches at MyHeritage. It can also be used as a standalone tool for customers who have tested with other DNA services.
The standalone cM Explainer™ allows you to enter the amount of shared DNA (cM), your age, and a match’s age (this is optional) to determine the most probable relationships. This also produces a list of other possible relationships and their probability, as well as a diagram of possible relationships.
You can also watch Diahan explain the cM Explainer™ in the video below:
As you can see, the cM Explainer™ is unique in that it uses the cM value as well as the ages of the two individuals to determine the most probable relationship.
This is a great new tool from MyHeritage DNA that we’re excited to test out! If you haven’t already done so, we encourage you to transfer your DNA to MyHeritage (it’s free, with an optional upgrade we recommend). Once you’ve got your DNA at MyHeritage, consider taking our popular MyHeritage DNA Tour! Your Tour comes with video tutorials, a custom workbook, hands-on exercises and a research log to help you personalize and understand your MyHeritage DNA results.
My cousin and I have an age difference of 26 years. Cm Explainer says that my cousin is a half-uncle. If I adjust his age down by a few years, the relationship becomes cousin. It doesn’t seem like age differences that are somewhat outside the norm are taken into account.