New resource tool: Wolfram Alpha

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ReneC

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There is a new resource tool coming that everyone should check out. It's called Wolfram Alpha, a computational knowledge engine. It's not a search engine, it doesn't pull up websites like Google, instead it computes answers to fact-based questions. It is, quite literally, the sum of human knowledge at your fingertips.

You'll be able to ask it what the capital of a country is, what the speed of light is, or how long it takes a sound wave to travel from New York to Paris. It can provide the stock market history of Apple, calculate how cold it is on the dark side of the moon, or even tell you how much the Earth weighs.

This is exciting stuff! Keep checking the link, the site goes live some time this month.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Hi! Bumping to say, the site just went live. It knows more about math and physics and chemistry than about pop culture or biology or geography. Seems to be a cross between wikipedia and a more advanced version of that google feature that calculates math problems and converts units for you. Kinda neat. It still has a lot of things it doesn't know yet.

One useful thing it does is compare two or three things, like stocks, planets, elements, colors, cities, whatever.
 

Soccer Mom

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What an awesome link. I'll add it to the Writer's Toolbox sticky up above.
 

black ink

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I just heard a story about this on NPR. Very cool. Thanks for the reminder. Bookmarking. . .
 

Ctairo

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Oh.

Wow.

Why yes, I'm impressed. Why do you ask? :tongue

Thanks so much for posting the link, ReneC!
 

Tallent

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Man I can use this. I never know what anyone is talking about around here, (high tech place). Now I can look it up.

Thanks
 

Gillhoughly

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I asked it what my sales figures were for all my books from 1990 to the present.

It started screaming "Does not compute," smoke started flowing from my monitor, and these sparkly aliens entities tried to penetrate my skull, but were driven out by the beer fumes.

Next time I'll take along Captain Kirk.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Well!

I asked it, "how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

and it told me,
a woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood
(according to the tongue-twister)

so it knows that much, at least.
 

Kitty Pryde

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Also! I just asked it,
what is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

and it told me,

42
(according to Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Douglas Adams FTW!
 

Kitty Pryde

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I'm having a bit too much fun with this thingy.

I asked,

how many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

and the answer was,

1 peck
(according to the tongue-twister)

1 peck\n(according to the tongue-twister)

Unit conversions:
2.327 gallons
9.309 quarts
18.62 pints
37.24 cups
8.81 L (liters)
8.81 dm^3 (cubic decimeters)
0.00881 m^3 (cubic meters)
8810 cm^3 (cubic centimeters)

Comparisons:
~~ 0.39 x molar volume ( 1 mol molar volume constants )
~~ volume of blood in a typical human (~~ 5 L )

Corresponding quantities:
Radius r of a sphere from V=4pir^3/3:\n | 0.4203 feet\n | 5.044 inches\n | 12.81 cm (centimeters)
Edge length a of a cube from V=a^3:\n | 0.6776 feet\n | 8.131 inches\n | 20.65 cm (centimeters)
Mass m of water from m=rhoV:\n | 19 lb (pounds)\n | 8.8 kg (kilograms)\n | (assuming water density ~~ 1000 kg/m^3)
Molecules N of water from N=rhoV/MW:\n | 2.945x10^26 molecules\n | (assuming water density ~~ 1000 kg/m^3)
 
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