Wolfram Alpha

[Sky]

 

[NowhereMan]

Loaded in a number of questions to do with philosophy and it wasn't sure what to do with any of them, I have a strong feeling this is going to be more useful for scientists as far as academic research goes. Even just plugging in a load of keywords got me nothing while Google has reams of papers and books and random websites.

[Lantyssa]

They're trying to patent the internet. oO

[K9]

I have a strong feeling this is going to be more useful for scientists as far as academic research goes.

It is going to struggle to offer anything to the medical and life science that isn't already offered in a way that is far more tailored to the needs of the end user; and it has to be more than just 'Mathematica online' to get anywhere. As I understood it was supposed to be equivalent to AskJeeves, but with the ability to actually handle questions phrased as humans speak, something which it completely fails out.

The majority of scientists are quite web-literate don't need a dumbed down interface to access the resources they need on the internet, and furthermore tend to ask the most complex questions. So they don't seem to fit as a demographic that would actually use W|A as anything more than a toy.

[sidereal]

I actually found a use for it this evening.  The wife was looking at a little article about the Bugatti Veyron where it said it goes 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds and she said 'wow, I wonder what that would feel like' and I said 'I dunno.  Let's figure out what it is in Gs'

So I inputted:

60 mph / 2.5 s in gravs

And:

1.09 gravs

Additional conversions:
10.7 m/s²
35.2 ft/s²
1.09 g

Fuck yeah!  Now I understand the VISION

[schild]

I actually found a use for it this evening.  The wife was looking at a little article about the Bugatti Veyron where it said it goes 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds and she said 'wow, I wonder what that would feel like' and I said 'I dunno.  Let's figure out what it is in Gs'

So I inputted:

60 mph / 2.5 s in gravs

And:

1.09 gravs

Additional conversions:
10.7 m/s²
35.2 ft/s²
1.09 g

Fuck yeah!  Now I understand the VISION

Took about 0 seconds.

[Quinton]

onebox to the rescue! (that's the google lingo for the special features that recognize things like calculator input for special handling):
http://www.google.com/intl/en/help/features.html

[Bungee]

http://www38.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+many+roads+must+a+man+walk+down

I'm down with that :)

[K9]

I swear W|A has more pop-culture and geek answers right now than actual answers 

[sidereal]

Took about 0 seconds.

Oh noes!  My Wolfram Alpha phase is over.

Edit:  I should also point out that in my original WA effort I wanted to figure out how that compared to the G forces in taking off in the space shuttle.  And all kinds of queries like 'Shuttle launch force in gravs', 'Space shuttle acceleration', etc, etc were all no worky.  Google gets it on the first hit.

[Sheepherder]

Took about 0 seconds.

NaN

[MahrinSkel]

I actually found a use for it this evening.  The wife was looking at a little article about the Bugatti Veyron where it said it goes 0 to 60 in 2.5 seconds and she said 'wow, I wonder what that would feel like' and I said 'I dunno.  Let's figure out what it is in Gs'

So I inputted:

60 mph / 2.5 s in gravs

And:

1.09 gravs

Additional conversions:
10.7 m/s²
35.2 ft/s²
1.09 g

Fuck yeah!  Now I understand the VISION

Took about 0 seconds.

That's also just about the ragged edge for soft rubber on concrete traction, so we're not going to see anything much higher until they invent a stickier material to make tires out of, or start covering test tracks with adhesive.

--Dave

[MahrinSkel]

Just for shits and giggles, I tried the question "Where is a good Thai restaurant in Austin TX?"

Wolfram Alpha: isn't sure what to do with your input.

Google: First result was Local business results for Where is a good Thai restaurant in Austin TX

Clicking on that took me to a page where I could limit by Review score of 4 stars and higher, and it would take some more fiddling to get one sorted by how close they were to me, so there's room for improvement (especially for Android phones that won't have to be told where I am).  But if I'm looking for a Thai restaurant in a strange town that won't make me gag, I think Google will be much more useful than Wolfram Alpha for quite some time.

And unlike the iPhone, I won't have to pay money for an app that does nothing but pre-filter a search result.

--Dave

[schild]

It's true, all W|A has done is made me appreciate Google more.

I guess this is what happens when you put a bunch of scientists together in a locked room instead of a bunch of interesting fuckers.

[Tairnyn]

I've found WA is handy for quickly graphing and assessing the properties of multivariate equations and finding if factors of polynomials exist. Also, Google fails to assess the health benefits of a cubic lightyear of strawberries

[Righ]

That's also just about the ragged edge for soft rubber on concrete traction, so we're not going to see anything much higher until they invent a stickier material to make tires out of, or start covering test tracks with adhesive.

F1 cars do 1.45g using rubber tyres on normal asphalt.

[sidereal]

I've found WA is handy for quickly graphing and assessing the properties of multivariate equations and finding if factors of polynomials exist. Also, Google fails to assess the health benefits of a cubic lightyear of strawberries

6.3 x 10⁵³% of your daily value of Vitamin C is admittedly a lot, but you actually just piss out all of the excess anyway.  Sadly, WA is not informative in regards to the properties of a cubic lightyear of urine.

[Lantyssa]

I'm pretty sure a cubic lightyear of strawberries will collapse and form a super massive black hole.

[NowhereMan]

Yeah, you've gotta eat them before they go bad.

[Lantyssa]

Going bad is worse.  Then you've got a super massive black mold.

[MahrinSkel]

That's also just about the ragged edge for soft rubber on concrete traction, so we're not going to see anything much higher until they invent a stickier material to make tires out of, or start covering test tracks with adhesive.

F1 cars do 1.45g using rubber tyres on normal asphalt.

And need a new set every hundred miles or so.  But point made.

--Dave

[schild]

Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input.Tips for good results »

Related inputs to try:

None
    * cubic lightyear

Food:
    * nutritional information
       bacon

/shrug

However, I'm pretty sure I could enjoy a cubic lightyear of maple syrup. Mostly, I want to go swimming in it. Maybe I'll drink a little. GLUB GLUB.

[sidereal]

The Segway of search engines.

Heh

[Sheepherder]

That was automatically compiled, wasn't it?

Because being teabagged by a competitor's data collating algorithm is awesome, and the prime reason why you just don't fuck with Google.