And they all follow the same basic formula: They arise when vulnerability meets adversity.

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The Hindi Crorepati, hosted by film legend Amitabh Bachchan, taps the nation's raging get-rich-quick spirit with a sexy basic formula.

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Some have added interesting bells and whistles to this basic formula.

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The basic formula for diversity is rapidly evolving.

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The basic RPI formula is 25% team winning percentage, 50% opponents' winning percentage and 25% opponents' opponents' winning percentage.

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For two years now, that basic, terrestrial formula was enough to make Angry Birds the de facto king of mobile gaming, and a stand-in for a casual gaming revolution that was gripping phone users and proving a full-fledged commercial phenomenon.

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Indulge me in a quick stat geek moment: the basic standard deviation formula marks greatness across eras by showing the degree to which you stand out from the crowd in a given year (a team with fewer patsies to beat up on will score higher than a team than a team feasting on more patsies, records being equal).

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They have managed to procure blankets, mattresses, baby formula and other basic essentials, but we don't expect that this is going to be possible for much longer.

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"PAT favours a national funding formula to cut out basic inequalities between local education authorities, " she said.

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They include such things as paying workers based on a formula that allows them to meet basic cost-of-living needs.

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