
How did you answer the final application question?! - colmworth

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erdos2
I mentioned the discovery of a hypergeometric combinatorial enumeration
formula with a useful decomposition that could be used to find a limit
probability distribution for the objects I was enumerating. I edited out the
following: Richard Stanley had previously derived a rational generating
function for enumerating the almost-injective functions, however, I could find
no obvious way to manipulate this to obtain the limit probability
distribution, nor did it suggest the decomposition of a non-machine summable
formula into machine summable, asymptotically significant and non-machine-
summable, asymptotically insignificant parts. The two-term formula was
obtained by classifying the almost-injective functions using a regular
grammar; the closed term arose from a sub-language closed under concatenation.
Computer experiments suggest that a class of enumeration problems arising from
regular monoids have closed form hypergeometric enumeration formulas.

Finding an algorithm for computing closed forms of indefinite binomial
coefficient sums was an open problem in Knuth's Art of Programming; it was
solved by Wilf and Zeilberger. In the example I considered, there is no closed
form solution; however there is a way of finding a decomposition of the sum
with good properties. Finding the asymptotically significant term required an
idea: the point is that the algorithms I used don't help you find this. One of
those algorithms I used was due to R. W. Gosper, a legendary hacker.

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nostrademons
One of my cofounders came up with our answer:

"In 2005, Matt discovered the best way to deal with Nigerian 413-scams on
CraigsList: when someone offers thousands of dollars for your stereo via some
phony money-wiring organization, just request a receiver-pays-shipping slip
and FedEx them 40 pounds of bricks."

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pg
I actually care a lot about the last question. It often makes me give an
application a second look. I don't think the other 3 YC partners care very
much about it though.

~~~
jkush
I'm cringing inside because I wrote the most bland and uninteresting thing in
the world.

I'm going to rewrite and resubmit by the deadline tonight, if that's alright.

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python_kiss
I talked about choice and the sensory overload it often causes. We have
reached a point where the only type of cell phones we can't buy anymore are
cell phones that are just a phone. The suppliers, however, cannot be held
responsible for this. Afterall, they are simply trying to satisfy the users
constant demands. So eventhough this mental toxin often makes us feel
miserable, it is preferable by consumers over having less choice. And this
fascinates me.

I am contemplating writing an article about choice and relating it to Web 2.0.
Here is an excerpt from another article I wrote that relates to this: "...if a
choice is present, perfectionists spend a ridiculous amount of time over
simple decisions. Such is the mentality governing users of today's social
networks. We are caught up in a web of choices; indeed, the core reason behind
MySpace's success is that users rule. MySpace might suck, but it gives its
users ample of choice. Once a user has invested an hour of their life
customizing their profile, they are not likely to leave the site anytime
soon."

~~~
rms
<http://www.jitterbug.com/>

Jitterbug phones is a MVNO with a custom-made Samsung phone that is really
just a phone.

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adamsmith
I crawled the MIT facebook and built a friendship predictor that will take
guesses at who, out of the people you are not currently listed as being
friends with, you actually are friends with in real life. People's traits
(age, sex, home state, etc.) are significantly less predictive than how close
you are on the [ friendship / class / photo / group ] network. In descending
order of predictive power, the most important traits when considering two
people as potential friends are:

_how many friends you have in common_ how many pictures you simultaneously
appear in _how many classes you have together_ relationship status _looking
for (e.g. friendship, dating, random play)_ how many facebook groups you have
in common

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cwilbur
I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound trite when I first filled out
the form, so I left it blank and decided to come back to it later.

(As far as I'm concerned it's a long shot. I don't think my idea and my goals
for my business line up that well with what YC is really looking for, based on
what they've done in the past. So I filled out the form more for myself than
for them.)

But then I thought of the best answer to that question -- the most personally
meaningful thing I've discovered, something that I don't think anyone else has
ever noticed -- over the weekend, and only realized this morning that the
deadline had whooshed right by while I was sleeping.

Oops.

~~~
immad
The deadline is yet to arrive. is you mesage from the future?

~~~
juwo
LOL!!!

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ced
I thought that "discovered" was very ambiguous (was it intentional?)

I wanted to write something offbeat, like, "The Dawson City mayor stole cable
TV for all its citizens in 1996" or "DNA-polymerase can synthesize 10000
nucleotides/second" (I can't find the actual number on the net, but it's crazy
high)

I solved the problem by not applying at all.

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MEHOM
There is great knowledge in the classics. Patterns of human nature always
repeat. WhenI know the mind of the other person, I know who their allies are.
I also know their team and the position they stand in. Now take this point of
view and apply it in your software app. It is a paraphrase from Sunzi AoW
Chapter 3.

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nonrecursive
Vervet monkeys have three main predators, and can alert the rest of their
group to the presence of each. The rest of the group responds appropriately to
the type of call given. If, for example, a monkey gives a loud, barking call,
signifying the approach of a leopard, the other monkeys run to the trees.

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zaidf
"Great ideas can be implemented badly and fail; stupid ideas can be done well
and succeed; key is to settle on a great idea and implement it well."

Copy me someone:) Please?

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rms
Kevin has discovered the universe's greatest civilization:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Attractor>

~~~
python_kiss
"I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the
day." - Van Gogh

Images of galaxy clusters always sadden me. Our insignificance in the Universe
is laughable.

~~~
juwo
python_kiss wrote, "Images of galaxy clusters always sadden me. Our
insignificance in the Universe is laughable".

Only if you do not know what the purpose of life is.
<http://juwo.blogspot.com/2006/12/what-is-purpose-of-life.html>

~~~
rms
Jesus is more insignificant to the universe than you and me.

~~~
juwo
"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."
[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201:17&version;=31;](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians%201:17&version=31;)

~~~
rms
That doesn't make any sense.

~~~
juwo
"all things" == Universe

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mauricecheeks
Sleep is a dumb waste of time.

