User blog comment:MarleneZ./How Are We Doing?/@comment-69.119.71.232-20140517193707/@comment-24714387-20140520220556

This is how I see it:

L, with his 8/10 intelligence, uses his brain to its full potential, as has a much better control of his emotions, which allows him to only think; on top of all of that, he was raised in a house devoted to intelligence. The fact that L uses his brain's full potential is due to the plot demanding it.

Light and Near, with their 9/10 intelligence, have more innate brain power than L. However, Light could never fully surpass L, intellectully, due to his emotions, while Near could never fully surpass L alone, due to his immaturity and inexperience. Light and Near potentially could each individually surpass L, but both of them have never used their brain's full potential on a consistent basis like L.

Now, who's smarter between Near and Light is very arguable. In my opinion, Light may have more innate brain power than Near, but his intelligence is hampered by his emotions; even then, Light displayed an 8/10 intelligence, in my opinion, while Near displayed a 7.8/10 intelligence.

Once again, this is just how I see it.