Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine

[Kodiak]

Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine will be brought online soon. I have been reading about it and although it will be nothing like Google or ASK it will be good.

Go to here to read about it :-

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/wolfram_alpha_launch_starts_tonight.php

And go to here for the Wolfram Alpha Site :-

http://www.wolframalpha.com/index.html

It should be online somtime during the Night/Morning.

K.

[DeHaviLand]

Hmmm, stumped it with my very first input. Has a long way to go yet before it achieves its stated aims.:roll:

[webmannie]

Jee whiz it is slow, long way to go, so much hype, very little content. Can see that it will have uses though

[Kodiak]

It will take time to get to know the best way to input Questions.

If you wated to know how many people in the UK are using the Internet you would type in "Internet Users UK"

I did this as a teat and it came back within 2 secs 40.2 Million.

Or if you want information on a Particular Town Just type in the name ie "Thurso"

I did this and it came back with

Thurso, Highland
Population 7,492 People

http://www4d.wolframalpha.com/Calculate/MSP/MSP1753195gcc84d47416ii00002c11b60bid8aef61?MSPSto reType=image/gif&s=42


Time
http://www4d.wolframalpha.com/Calculate/MSP/MSP2565195gc57c2b50hgid00005b41270f5b902d91?MSPSto reType=image/gif&s=42
http://www4d.wolframalpha.com/Calculate/MSP/MSP2606195gc57c2b1hg56a00002ibe4h3i875cc16h?MSPSto reType=image/gif&s=42


Elevation
92ft




So for some things it will be great but for others Google will still be better.

[badger]

I'm not putting this in the techy bit because as far as I'm concerned it's definitely fun. Has anyone tried the new search engine
http://www23.wolframalpha.com/ ?

I'm sure it's absolutely wonderful for scientific calculations, which I didn't try, but it's geography and history are a bit sketchy. Scotland apparently ceased to exist in 1707, whereas England covers the whole of GB. When did Scotland and Wales become part of England I wonder?

I also asked it about windfarms in Scotland (topical subject I thought) but it didn't recognise the word and wanted to try windham. It came up with "Is Windham, Connecticut, United States in Scotland, Connecticut, United States" - Result "No". Since Scotland no longer exists (and as far as I know was never in Connecticut) I suppose that's hardly surprising.

Think I'll stick to Google for answers and use wolframalpha (what does that mean?) for fun.

[Kodiak]

This was posted the day it was opened Here :-

http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=76352

[Kodiak]

I have been having fun with this, has anyone else ??

[Metalattakk]

The mistake you (and the mass media by the looks of things) are making badger is that you're classing it as a 'search engine' like Google - when it's clearly nothing of the sort.

It's a 'computational knowledge engine', so don't go expecting it to link you to shopping sites or your favourite reality shows.

An expert analysis is here (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/18/wolfram_alpha/).

[katarina]

Mind you, when in England, or travelling abroad with english, the whole UK is referred to as England. I was recently on holiday in the Dominican Republic and none of the locals seemed to know where Scotland was. Even when I said Great Britain - United Kingdom - still blank faces. When I said England - yes they had heard of it! And I was asked Was Scotland part of England then?

[badger]

This was posted the day it was opened Here :-

http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=76352


Thanks - wondered why I was moved. Had a quick look as thought there must be something about it but didn't go back far enough.

[Rheghead]

It was totally bamboozled by the radioactive decay rate equation.[smirk]

[badger]

The mistake you (and the mass media by the looks of things) are making badger is that you're classing it as a 'search engine' like Google - when it's clearly nothing of the sort.

It's a 'computational knowledge engine', so don't go expecting it to link you to shopping sites or your favourite reality shows.

An expert analysis is here (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/18/wolfram_alpha/).

Having heard comment about it on the radio I wasn't expecting shopping sites (think you're being a teeny bit patronising :) ) What makes you think I have favourite reality shows? I do know what it's meant to be but don't think that's any excuse for such total ignorance about Scotland, or England for that matter.

If you look at the Examples, there is a whole section on Places & Geography. Search by England and it immediately admits to interpreting that as UK so you get a map of the whole of the UK with corresponding flag, mix of languages etc. and, presumably, equally inaccurate statistics.

Definitely not to be taken seriously.

[Ricco]

You know the acronym is WACKE, or wacky to some!:eek: