Roberto Abraham Scaruffi

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How did Andrew Wiles succeed in proving Fermat's last theorem when others had failed? Alon Amit, Mathcircler and Origamist. 125 votes A facetious, provocative answer with a shred of truth: he did not. Andrew Wiles didn't actually prove Fermat's Last Theorem. Not directly. He proved a much deeper and important result, the Modularity Theorem for Elliptic Curves (not all of it, but a huge and sufficiently big chunk). The guy who proved that FLT follows from the Modularity conjecture was Ken Ribet, building on work by Serre f... Read More » I am 23. I have $3,000 and I want to start investing. I would like to create a long-term portfolio but I've never traded before. What is the best way to start investing and learning? Lee Musser 1k votes First, don't count on a finance major or MBA to teach you how to be an intelligent investor. Most finance curriculum is overly academic and has very little real world application. Most schools base their curriculum on Modern Portfolio Theory and The Efficient Market Hypothesis - two theories that are deeply flawed and have very little real world application. In essence, a finance major / MBA ... Read More » What is the next number in this sequence and why? Frederico Guimaraes 407 votes It's 2610. Because obviously the sequence follows the rule [math]y = n^5 - 20n^4 + 155n^3 -579n^2 + 1045n -720[/math] Which for n=2 → y=6 n=3 → y=12 n=4 → y=20... Read More » What is the best way to invest my money? Balaji Viswanathan, Teacher and a Product Manager. 353 votes As a new graduate, the first thing you should do is to lock down as much money as possible in savings. When I graduated and got my first job, I immediately bought my dream car - a new Mustang GT convertible. Not the best of my financial decision ;-). Although I fixed the rest of my financial budget, this one was too tempting for me to resist. This is the thing you have to guard against: avoid t... Read More » What was the last thing Albert Einstein was working on before he died? Richard Malcolm Smythe, High School Teacher - Digital Graphics 48 votes At his hospital bed just after he passed away; he had left his pen and papers on top of the little side table. The papers were on his passion, his Unified Field Theory. The evening before he died, Einstein was hard at work writing and scribbling his thoughts and workings on this theory. A little later he stated to his nurse, "...I think I will rest for a while" and he placed the items on the t... Read More » How should I price a website for sale if the earnings are approximately 13k - 15k each month? Paul Cohn, I've been involved in all aspects of VC/PE/FOF so I have an opinion on everything. Feel free to ignore it. 44 votes A good rule of thumb is that a small business like this would sell for 2x - 2.5x cash flow. Assuming $13k of cash flow that puts your value at $336k to $390k. There are a number of online business brokerages who can give you a better idea along with some small business brokers (i.e. Sunbelt). I just thought I'd add this. My answer looks stupid and unsophisticated. But these valuation ru... Read More » Corporations: Have you ever cold emailed the CEO of a big company? Jason M. Lemkin, partner @ Storm Ventures; ceo/co-founder @ EchoSign (acq'd by Adobe), the web's #1 electronic signature service. 583 votes Yes. This is how I made my first start-up worth a $50,000,000 exit in 12.5 months. I had no money to make the next payroll. The VCs had all pulled out. I had one Big Elephant Customer, but I needed another. I had signed a $750,000 full-recourse promissory note to the VCs that pulled out and pledged my (ok, our) house and all my savings and it was all going to go down the tubes. I cold ema... Read More » If Steve Jobs was such a bad boss, why did so many people work with him? Scott Dunlap, Entrepreneur, Growth hacker. Runner. Always curious... 2.1k votes I've had a chance to work for and with a number of visionaries that most would consider "assholes" when they were managing huge growth engines - Marc Andreessen, Steve Blank, Mike Homer (Netscape), Larry Ellison, etc. I think it comes down to the gift and curse of being a true visionary. Until you've worked with one of these folks it's a bit hard to explain, but I'll give it a shot. The gift/c... Read More » Can all people be wealthy in capitalism? Rob Weir, Renaissance Dude 606 votes A thought experiment. Imagine taking a person from 1800, say at the 99th percentile of wealthy then, with their material conditions: no indoor plumbing, short life expectancy, primitive medical care, likely infested with parasites that today would be unacceptable for a house pet, etc. Now imagine exposing them to the accommodations of someone in 2015 America in welfare: color television, ... Read More » How did successful people spend their time when they were young, between the ages of 10 and 22? Anita Sharma, Surgeon. Brit. Liberal. 373 votes I wanted to add a comment here for people like me who are normal, everyday people but who are considered to be successful in their fields and their lives. I was a member of Mensa at the age of 6, graduated high school at 14 and then graduated medical school at the age of 20. Contrary to the assumptions some people have when they learn this about me is that I'm some kind of genius; I assure yo... Read More »