monomeric mass can have any value between and including, 0 and $\mtot$, i.e., $0\le M(0) \le \mtot$. The same holds true for $P(0)$ and $M(t) \ge P(t)$ for all times, where the equality holds only when all the polymers are critical nuclei.

In the absence of the *body evaporation and addition* terms, Eqs. \[eq6\] and \[eq7\] have been compared with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations that do allow for the disintegration of nuclei. [@Tiwari_2016] As expected, the time evolution of the moments obtained from the simulation are in quantitative agreement with Eqs. \[eq6\] and \[eq7\] in the appropriate limit of strongly nucleated polymerisation, justifying our approximation. With regard to the domain of validity of the Eqs. \[eq6\] and \[eq7\], they produce nonzero and positive $M(\infty)$ and $P(\infty)$ only above the so-called critical concentration of monomers. [@paul_review] In the absence of other pathways, except *end evaporation and addition*, the critical concentration obtained from our kinetic equations has a simple analogy to that of the thermodynamic theory of linear self-assembly. [@paul_review] However, in the presence of more complex pathways, the mapping is not so trivial as the kinetic theory demands the introduction of additional energy scales associated with the various pathways. For example, 