…like me! Launched on May 18th, 2009, Wolfram Alpha is a “computational knowledge engine”.
An article in the May 16th, 2009 issue of the Economist describes how Wolfram Alpha works by explaining that it “tries to dissect a question into its components and then performs calculations, using its own source materials, to compute an answer.” The author goes on to say that “Alpha, in short, acts like a nerdy reference librarian who is equipped with the latest calculators and endless stacks of books and encyclopedias.”
But, despite my self-proclaimed nerdiness and my B.S. degree in chemical engineering, it wasn’t immediately apparent how to get the darn thing to work. After several attempts, I finally got it to present the number of engineers working in the United States. Why? This number would probably provide an upper bound on the total number of people that would actually be capable of or interested in using it. The answer: 169,960, or 0.055% of the US population. Thanks, Wolfram Alpha!
Okay, I’m being harsh. As the Economist author writes, “A free service that almost instantaneously computes the answers to complex questions – such as the ratio between exports and imports in Ghana (or any other country) of the past ten years – is indeed novel, and may serve to help democratize expert knowledge.”
The 169,960 engineers (and 12,740 economists and 13,980 physicists…see, I’m catching on) couldn’t agree more.
It will be interesting to see how, or whether, its creators monetize it. Its main competitor seems more like Wikipedia than Google. And, Wikipedia has flourished without ads. Will Wolfram Alpha do the same?
1 comment:
I am fascinated by Wolfram Alpha as well and after watching the tutorial on how it works I decided to try out a few things myself.
I have noticed that it is very difficult to get some of the answers you want. It seems to be more of a computational machine than an information source, although its billed as both. I tried checking out sports statistics like "home run record" and would often "strike out" on the searches. But yes, if you punch in "speed of sound / speed of light" you will indeed get 1.135 * 10^-6...I wonder too what the revenue stream would be. It doesn't seem to be a website that would have mass appeal, but would be more for scientists, techie guys, and "nerds" like you Jake! lol
Post a Comment