Posted on 05/18/2009 11:10:16 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The online 'computational knowledge engine' calculates answers, unlike Google, which searches for information that already exists.
How long does it take to get to Saturn at, say, the speed of light?
With Wolfram Alpha, the online "computational knowledge engine" that launched Monday, the answer -- 75 minutes -- can be found in a fraction of a second.
Web users can submit customized questions to the service, and Wolfram Alpha will try to work out the answer on the fly. The chance that a healthy 35-year-old woman will contract heart disease in the next 10 years? One in 167. The temperature in Washington, D.C., during the July 1976 bicentennial? An average of 74 degrees.
For questions like these, Google and Wikipedia, perhaps the two best known online reference tools, would search through vast databases of existing Web pages hoping for a match.
Not so with Wolfram Alpha. "We're not using the things people have written down on the Web," said Stephen Wolfram, the project's creator and the founder of Wolfram Research Inc., which is based in Champaign, Ill. "We're trying to use the actual corpus of human knowledge to compute specific answers."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Ping
It's a search engine for people who think "google" isn't a stupid enough name for a search engine?
He just should have called it Mathimatica 2: Electric Webagoogaloo.
I’ve been waiting patiently for Wolfram Alpha to launch, I can’t wait to test drive it!
Sadly, I get that reference.
I made that reference. Just think how sad I am.
It is strikingly fast. Just tried it.
Did Lucinda Dickey ever make any pornos?
Pity me then, I even remember that name.
What happens when it becomes self-aware?
I have to admit, I didn’t know that name, but according to Wikipedia, she got out of showbiz after 1990.
Or ask this one.... How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?
If you happen to not know where you're at, it will tell you.
Then there's the age old question: Why did the chicken cross the road?
Wolfram even knows the answer to the question on life, the universe and everything.
I've only seen this happen once:
Yeah, and the answers come from John Hillerman's ICQ client.
It bothers me that Holland Manners is in charge.
Suppose you wanted to know how many quarters per ounce?
You could start at Wikipedia (via Google of course – Google searches Wikipedia much more effectively than Wikipedia). So. Courtesy of Wikipedia, you now know a quarter weighs 5.670 grams (forget the troy ounces, they're for the light in the loafers). Next step: ask Google what is 1 ounce / 5.670 grams. Um. I think the answer is five quarters to the ounce.
Now try it with Wolfram.
IMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
I tried Googling my name on that thing. Piece of crap.
Whatever happened to Adolpho Quinones?
I wonder if Electric Webgoogaloo can answer that one?
Your name is a piece of crap?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.