Wolfram /Alpha

PinkFloyd · 18 May 2009 at 14:27

That's pretty damn awesome

Fantastic resource for students

Greenlizard0 · 18 May 2009 at 14:28

Just seen the article in the news, looks pretty good.

It looks quite sharp as well, like google before the days of it being butchered by all those shopping links ..

Mattus · 18 May 2009 at 14:34

It's interesting, but it isn't a 'new way to search' as some of the media is suggesting. How can you compare it with Google when it's not even a search engine? It returns results based on its own knowledge base rather than the wider internet.

SourChipmunk · 18 May 2009 at 14:41

Mattus said:
It's interesting, but it isn't a 'new way to search' as some of the media is suggesting. How can you compare it with Google when it's not even a search engine? It returns results based on its own knowledge base rather than the wider internet.

I don't think it is trying to compete with Google. They are totally different types of searches. This project is just to take known information, formulas, and facts and make them "computable".

Just as project "KGB" is all about providing an answer to real-world questions, with the assistance of a human-being at the back end. A different breed of engine.

Solari · 18 May 2009 at 15:13

I wish this had been about when I was at college and having to deal with Calculus

yhack · 18 May 2009 at 15:14

This is awesome, I didn't expect it to get this

Greebo · 18 May 2009 at 15:22

And it's always nice to know exactly how far we are from the sun at any one minute.

I inputted my date of birth and was disappointed to see it say there was "no notable events" that day.

Pinkeyes · 18 May 2009 at 15:26

Greebo said:
I inputted my date of birth and was disappointed to see it say there was "no notable events" that day.

Still - could have been worse. Mine returned

Death of William O. Mills (politician)

firthy15 · 18 May 2009 at 15:30

http://www07.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+apple

This thing is BRILLIANT !

Shamikebab · 18 May 2009 at 15:55

This thing is amazing, can do so much cool stuff.

Red and White · 18 May 2009 at 16:00

rz30 · 24 May 2009 at 19:56

Add-on for Firefox lets you view dual google and Wolfram results on the one page, could be worth a look at,

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12006

gillywibble · 25 May 2009 at 10:24

rz30 said:
Add-on for Firefox lets you view dual google and Wolfram results on the one page, could be worth a look at,

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/12006

That's spot on. Thanks

Combat squirrel · 25 May 2009 at 10:42

Its not that great, I asked it 'who is the president of america?'

It said Barack Obama = correct

then I asked 'who is the queen of england?'

answer = 'Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input'

gillywibble · 25 May 2009 at 10:49

It's a work in progress?

SillyHeatsink · 25 May 2009 at 11:00

Methinks this is very much work in progress. If they want to attract serious (industrial) users, which from the looks of their Terms & Conditions they do - read the rules about citing W|A! - they have a long way to go. Searches for anything vaguely technical are generally not successful; I've tried Navier-Stokes, laminar layer momentum, skin friction coefficient, and several others to no avail!

Still, I reckon it'll take a while to get off the ground and get a decent database amassed. If it works it'll be superb!

sampo · 25 May 2009 at 12:57

I think it has potential.

It'll have to be limited to a degree - it's not going to be able to deal with thousands of engineers requesting solutions to Navier-Stokes equations! Perhaps it'll be able to provide iterative solutions to a certain degree in the future?

I tried something a little obscure that I've been working with recently, namely wavelet transforms of ice core record signals, and it came up with "functionality under development" for wavelet transforms which impressed me.

I also asked it the meaning of life and it answered 42! Got a sense of humour then as well...