So your amount of steem power determines the amount of weight your upvote has. Higher the steem power, the higher the reward the author receives when you give them an upvote. Steem power also receives interest to protect it from the inflation of steem where just the spendable steem does not. To convert steem power back to steem takes three moths and you get a portion each week. This is good for me because I have a weak hand when trading, the power down process ensures my patience.
Let me know if that covers it for you, thanks!
hmmm a lot said. so when does the interest happen. i dont think i have noticed that. and let's say i upvote someone and he gets 10$ for instance, does that do me any good too. if so what good?
Upon further investigation powering up your steem converts it into vests. The amount of vests stays the same but you will get more steem for them in time due to inflation. This is where the perception of interest came from. That $10 does you good if it is content you would like to promote to the top of trending. If it garners more votes from there you receive a higher curation reward. You also have the warm fuzzy feeling of helping someone if you are into that sort of thing.
thank you. i am definitely into that sort of thing. that is what life is about! but it also does help to know that my vote has some worth, so that it accomplishes helping someone.