Fafsa, the only aid formula used by most public colleges and many of the less-selective private ones, does not count the value of a small business.

FORBES: Paying for College: Own a Business

Instead, some of his advisors privately despair at a population that appears to count the cost of democracy rather than understanding its value.

BBC: Striking while the iron is cool

The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits.

WSJ: MasterCard CEO made $11.3M in 2012, up 35 percent

The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits or stock option gains such as those recognized by Zuckerberg did last year.

NPR: Facebook CEO Reaped $2.3B Gain On Stock Options

For those that make the cut, count on HBO to promote the value of gathering a half-dozen fight fans at one house, where the cost per head is about the same as going to the movies.

FORBES: The Economy

But that is a lame excuse: it should be much easier to count bodies than to put a value on diverse sorts of economic output.

ECONOMIST: Economics focus

By Son's count, Softbank holds 7% to 8% of the publicly listed value of all Internet properties (he excludes from this calculation hardware makers like Cisco Systems and service titan America Online).

FORBES: Master of the Internet