There are probably two main ways to go about curation: 1 Math Way 2 Heart Way.

1 - Math Way

So, like you said with the first one, there may be mathematical formulas in maximizing profits (curation). I've been on Steemit for a year. I do some web design, but I'm not an expert in Steem but I know what people say about how curation works. It can be better to upvote (like) a comment or post that is 30 minutes old or older, up to 7 days, because then you get all 100% of the vote, AKA voting power and anything that is less than 30 minutes will get less than 100% of the vote, 50% at 15 minutes (other 50% goes to the author of the post or comment), and 0% at 0 minutes as 100% of the vote goes to the author, basically, generally, maybe, probably, to some extent, or that is at least how Steemit has been if they haven't changed it yet. That is what they say. I've confirmed that voting at 30 minutes can sometimes give you more curation rewards.

But then, you also want to vote before other people vote, too.

So, the mathematical formula has those two variables, to vote at 30 minutes and/or to vote before a lot of other people vote for it. And you may get rewarded for betting on popular trends if you are there first like gambling and maybe Poker and other games. So, we all may know this, basically. I'm not really good at math, but I kind of get all of that to some extent.

2 - But you talk about curating what you like to curate.

I've been doing that, too, generally. I've gone back and forth, but I mostly tend to like comments and posts I care about to support people I like. In other words, curate with your heart. I'm in Shelton, WA. Follow your heart. In the long run, it can be better to brand yourself, to upvote things based on what you believe as opposed to only focused on the math, the money, because that might be a path to the dark side of the Star Wars force. Money is great but the love of money can be evil. We can focus on love, life, priorities, careers, passion, and we can make money that way as opposed to being completely consumed with getting money because that can turn us into monsters. We can begin to forget who we really are when we only think about making money. We can forget what we are earning the money for in the first place. It is good to have checks and balances within ourselves like we may see in government, in the separation of the 3 or 4 branches of governments. Good video. Love the trees. Love gardens.