Wolfram Alpha is coming, science geeks get ready!

wow this looks amazing! an amazing resource for people at universities and schools! Thanks for the heads up

It will take some time to show how this deterministic approach to data retrieval works with different people. Wolfram Alpha could actually ask back to acquire more info to compute the answer.

Query: How old am I?

WA: When were you born?

Ans: March 14, 1889.

WA: You are 130 years old.

reply to post by platosallegory


Call me old fashioned, but what's the fun of having answers just handed to you? No working for the knowledge, no thinking required...just tap the keyboard a few times and viola... Let someone else do your thinking for you...isn't that what we here spend a rather large amount of our time railing against?

Still and all, interesting. Doubt I'd use it, but interesting.

When the heck is the launch???

The site says "Coming May 2009" well...

I need to ask it: what existed before the Universe?

What are you going to ask?

Originally posted by greenorbs
I need to ask it: what existed before the Universe?

What are you going to ask?

How fat is yo mama?

It should be coming online tonight at 7 Central Time... I cant wait to see what it can do... Ive been waiting so long i don't even know what my first question will be.

Originally posted by jman1a
It should be coming online tonight at 7 Central Time... I cant wait to see what it can do... Ive been waiting so long i don't even know what my first question will be.

I saw that too, but I also saw in a blog that they changed it to the 18th. Its 7pm central now, and well I still have alot of questions, tsk tsk guys.

Heres some snapshots of how it works keywest-news.com...

In a blog post, the company has confirmed: "We plan to launch late next week, with the official date now set for 18 May".

And there you go, three more days guys.

But for you guys, who just can't wait...

www.wolframalpha.com...

Hehe, you can post your questions there early, but without an answer.

Damn Republican08 beat me to the input link lol... ohh well what do you guys think of it?... its not what i expected but its still a really good tool.

[edit on 15-5-2009 by jman1a]

reply to post by jman1a


I think it'll be really neat when all the get go, gets and goes.

Although, noone will look at this board, it's in the lost abyss of ats lost threads.

It has missed a few basic questions, so it needs some work. Sometimes, I get a message that the traffic is too high. Looks like it will be good overall.

I asked a few simple questions like "who starred in the matrix'', gave me a good complete list. It's pretty neat, and it still has alot of room to grow, this is like a prototype.

Google wasn't that good when it first came out now look at it.

I have to admit I'm quite disappointed. Maybe my expectations were too high. All of my questions were not understood by the engine. I would expect an entry like "United States Economic Future" would, at the very least, return some data about the market, if not some GDP graphs.

Clearly this is a tool for professionals like chemists, mathematicians, etc.

There is some great potential for a tool that provides only facts... but as I sat there trying to think of a question... I only drew a blank. Additionally, my friends and family all had a similar reaction when I told them about it, "What's the point?". I hate to say it, but I have to ask the same question now that I've had a chance to experienced it.

Now that ive had a chance to play with it some more its a bit better then my original criticisms. Its really good for astronomy, math and has some great history info. Like type in religious stuff and it gives some interesting stuff. And like Republican08 said wait for it to get to full steam then we can judge it.

Originally posted by seagull


Call me old fashioned, but what's the fun of having answers just handed to you? No working for the knowledge, no thinking required...just tap the keyboard a few times and viola... Let someone else do your thinking for you...isn't that what we here spend a rather large amount of our time railing against?

Still and all, interesting. Doubt I'd use it, but interesting.

That's kind of an ironic statement when you're using technology right now that does exactly what you just described.

Technology serves the purpose of making life easier. When frivolous problems in life are eliminated by such technology, we can focus on more important issues facing us.

Anyway, Wolfram Alpha gives accurate answers to specific questions that would ordinarily be a pain to find on your standard search engine.

Originally posted by Avarus


Clearly this is a tool for professionals like chemists, mathematicians, etc.

Not really. It's for the people who have questions regarding mostly quantities and measurements. Alpha is supposed to "compute" the answers and computing is about numbers more or less. If you are curious about how many active volcanoes are in North America, and Alpha is any good, you get the answer faster than googling up "Volcanoes in North America" and then reading the returns to find the particular info you wanted.

The phrasing of the question is funny: If you type "how many volcanoes are in North America" and hit the = sign for an answer, Alpha returns this message: Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input.

You need to start with one word, like "Volcanoes" and work your way up to the answer. Steven Wolfram was talking too much before he launched his "miracle search engine."

[edit on 5/15/2009 by stander]

Hehe, I typed in Nancy Pelosi, the woman is 69 years friggin old!

Botox hell of a drug.

reply to post by stander


www.wolframalpha.com...

You can get earthquake data, I know that, not sure on volcanoes, you just have to ask the question right. Give it time.

The web-accessible Mathematica engine is truly an incredible resource. Thank you to Wolfram for giving it to us.

I found it lacking with the soft sciences, such as the law. I asked for the elements of a contract, and got nothing. The law is an area I am sure they will expand in the future.

It is pretty amazing, though. I am well past my college days now, but if I had this wolfram alpha, plus google and wikipedia at the time, school would have been much more efficient. Then again, focusing may have been a problem if I were surfing all the time.

[edit on 15-5-2009 by greenorbs]