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View Full Version : Wolfram Alpha is released!



gjoellee
May 16th, 2009, 08:56 AM
Check it out here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

If you wonder what WolframAlpha is:
Wolfram is not a search engine like Google where you can search for website, but a search engine for knowledge. This can be helpful, ie: if you are wondering something about the weather, mathematics or economy, and much more!

Barrucadu
May 16th, 2009, 09:32 AM
Until it supports an ontology I'll consider it next to useless and continue using TrueKnowledge :P

Paqman
May 16th, 2009, 09:37 AM
It doesn't even know the speed of sound in custard. Lame.

sonicb00m
May 16th, 2009, 10:16 AM
It doesn't even know the speed of sound in custard. Lame.

hahaha:D

gnomeuser
May 16th, 2009, 10:54 AM
I forsee someone falling off a bridge (http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=speed+of+an+unladen+swallow)

dragos240
May 16th, 2009, 11:40 AM
I'm sorry dave I can't do that. Looks like it went off with a boom.... and blew up in the process..... it's down :(

calrogman
May 16th, 2009, 01:31 PM
Try again, it simply went over its testing load limit temporarily.

HappinessNow
May 16th, 2009, 01:36 PM
Check it out here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Awesome!

I like it but it needs a bit more development, for example when I type in the question:

where is new york?

it should give a lot more information like Longitude and Latitude for instance, but there are many more mapping demarcations that could be included.

I do like the chemistry search results for elements.

I do have a big question, does it have a function to access data from peer-reviewed Scientific journals?

calrogman
May 16th, 2009, 02:08 PM
You mean like in this picture?

http://imgur.com/1cuu8.gif

Protip: Some details are hidden, to see coordinates of locations, press "Show coordinates", it's next to the map.

You can also hit "Sources information" to see a list of sources and references for more information.

HappinessNow
May 16th, 2009, 02:29 PM
You mean like in this picture?

http://imgur.com/1cuu8.gif

Protip: Some details are hidden, to see coordinates of locations, press "Show coordinates", it's next to the map.

You can also hit "Sources information" to see a list of sources and references for more information.Yes, I missed the show coordinates selection, honestly the coordinates should be shown by default someone should not have to work extra hard for such information, especially since there is plenty of real estate available.

whoop
May 16th, 2009, 02:30 PM
I asked it five difficult questions, it couldn't answer any of them. Then I thought I'll give it a break, so I asked what ubuntu was. It didn't know.....

HappinessNow
May 16th, 2009, 02:33 PM
I asked it five difficult questions, it couldn't answer any of them. Then I thought I'll give it a break, so I asked what ubuntu was. It didn't know.....

Philosophy doesn't appear to be a sub-category.

whoop
May 16th, 2009, 02:37 PM
Philosophy doesn't appear to be a sub-category.

I wasn't being philosophical :) Well maybe ubuntu is somewhat.

joey-elijah
May 16th, 2009, 02:46 PM
Wolfram Alpha is currently like a really bad web 2.0 Beta site. It's a bit... pointless. What it does do is not new, unique or even quick!

It was so over hyped before launch that it could do nothing but disappoint.

Gucko
May 16th, 2009, 06:28 PM
The big ads camping about it is just tooooooooooo much. It needs LOTS of developments. It didn't answer most of my questions!

subdivision
May 16th, 2009, 06:31 PM
Uh oh, it's run by HAL? Don't put it in charge of any spaceships.

Looks like it's over it's load limit at the moment. I've been interested in trying it out since I first heard about it so I'll come back later.

Gucko
May 16th, 2009, 06:34 PM
failed with: "the average temperature in volcanos"

"clock speed of Intel core 2 duo "

Gucko
May 16th, 2009, 06:35 PM
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=shortest+path+from+America+to+Iraq

Sealbhach
May 16th, 2009, 06:44 PM
The site seems to be way too busy at the moment, I did ask it to

"name famous writers from Dublin"

but it didn't know how to handle it.

.

toupeiro
May 16th, 2009, 06:48 PM
Searched for Cars:



Assuming "cars" is referring to a general topic | Use as a unit or a word instead

Functionality for this topic is under development...
Leave your email address to be notified when it is ready.



----------------------------------

Good for specific searches, horrible at broad searches...

days_of_ruin
May 16th, 2009, 07:07 PM
"how old is linus torvalds"
That works but most stuff doesn't :|

Mateo
May 16th, 2009, 07:31 PM
fail.

Sealbhach
May 16th, 2009, 07:41 PM
fail.

Maybe not, depends on what claims were made about it. I think journalists hyped this up as a Google-killer when really it's a very different type of tool.

.

gjoellee
May 16th, 2009, 07:58 PM
It works great for me, and I don't know why this is a fail?

Wolfram is not a search engine like Google where you can search for website, but a search engine for facts and statistics. This can be helpful, ie: if you are wondering something about the weather or some mathematics.

Barrucadu
May 16th, 2009, 08:51 PM
W|A seems to treat input as search terms - it's just a glorified search engine, in this sort of thing you really need a focus on natural language processing. For example, "What is the capital of France?" fails, but "capital France" works.

MaxIBoy
May 16th, 2009, 09:13 PM
Part of the problem is that its "spiders" haven't had time to build up a decent-sized database of facts yet. (I'm assuming it uses spiders-- if it's done manually, then it's a fail indeed.)

Give it a bit more time, and these searches will eventually start working.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=size+of+the+world%27s+biggest+anvil
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=least+powerful+explosive
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=land+speed+record
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=constituents+of+atmosphere+at+sea+level
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=history+of+ice+picks

HavocXphere
May 16th, 2009, 09:23 PM
Not much use currently...but its heading in an interesting direction.

/me reckons Wolfram Alpha + Moore's Law = Epic Win

chris200x9
May 16th, 2009, 09:34 PM
...it doesn't even know what color blue is...http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=what+color+is+blue%3F