Education wolfram|alpha - try it out

http://www90.wolframalpha.com/



this is rather interesting....

 

So far it's been crap. All I get is, "unsure what to do with your request".

and seriously:http://www90.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=relix He's now bi monthly?

 

its still alpha, try some of the examples they have there...

edit: Relix is the name of a magazine.

 

I know it's in alpha, but it's 1/2 assed.

It will give you all the caloric information you want for gin or tonic. But it can't figure out how to combine them for a gin and tonic? I though this was math based. but it can find the nutritional information for a hamburger, which is a) non standard and b) made up of many ingredients. And I know why this is, but it shows you that it can't actually do what is says it can, which is to relate information in a way that answers a question.

Or it can tell me the population of the US, and the population of the US military; but it can't express one as a percentage of the other. try and add any veteran information to find out the % of Americans that have or are currently serving in the military and it just stares into the abyss. It's 9%, BTW, in case anyone cares.

While it's in alpha, it's not able to solve real questions. Which was the point of the design. To paraphrase someone else: at least google gives you pages of worthless information rather then nothing. After all the hype, I have to say; I'm incredibly disappointed.

 

"United States"? What tomfoolery is this?

 

See, I told you it don't work.

Even when you use the examples as a template, say under unemployment: "http://www90.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=unemployment+rate+of+Los+Angeles+County+in+2001" is the example used. Change unemployment to crime, and it bombs: "http://www90.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=crime+rate+of+Los+Angeles+County+in+2001"

Are you really going to tell me that the unemplyment rate is more aviliable for LA then the crime rate is?

 

I looked up "Norway"


Under "languages it says:

Apparently we don't speak or write Norwegian i Norway...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Sami

Google has it as Sami not Saami too =/

 

At least the deaf are holding out.

 

Still, 48% us don't speak Saami. Maybe 48% of the Nothern parts (Finnmark), but even there that sounds a bit high. Besides, most saami people doesn't even speak saami....

And what's up with the romani languages? Sure, some immigrants will speak it, but we don't have THAT many immigrants here.

 

it's not 'in alpha'. it's a product called 'alpha', produced by a company called wolfram.

and i don't think it's fair to expect it to know everything in the world. it knows a crapload of stuff already, and all the math and science stuff in its database is pretty cool. i'm sure it will improve as time goes on, but i think it's a pretty incredible tool right now.

JJ - gin and tonic

 

It's a glitch I think, so far all the European countries I had entered have them as well.

 

It's good at maths, and a few other things, like maths equations in word form.

 

I really like it, it's going to be fantastic for crosswords

 

notice that its made with Mathematica...

 

Is it perfect? No. Why all the criticism?

Where did it say "This is a perfect machine that will answer all questions." ?

If it becomes as good as the Wolfram Integrator it'll be epic.

 

It already is - if not better. It does definite integrals and transforms as well, e.g. #1 #2.

 

Oh wow, that's special.

I wonder if I can take a netbook into an exam restricted to that page...

 

I rather like it... seems like it could be handy! *bookmarked*

RwD

 

Interesting. Why would water make the difference?

For someone like me that has a great interest in how facts relate to one another, especially in terms of populations and social issues, it holds great promise. It just isn't there yet.