How to use and not abuse Wolfram Alpha
By Benny Har-Even in Editorial
Posted in Wolfram Alpha on
Wolfram Alpha is a not a search engine. It is not Google. This is something that many people who have heard of it do not quite get, which means that if you use it like Google you won’t be getting the best out if it.
To be fair, to get the most out of it, you’d probably have to be Spock, with a full and complete understanding of formulas, calculus and er.. like, science in general.
From our research here are five types of tasks that Wolfram Alpha handles really well - followed by examples of five searches that really should be left to Google.
Conversion - Want to know how much a certain amount of money is in another currency? Simple – just type it in and Wolfram Alpha will give you the figure in your local currency, and then helpfully in a number of other major currencies. If your currency you want isn’t in that immediate list then just type in the currency after it. Don’t know the name of the currency? No problem, just type the country, and Wolfram Alpha does the rest – eg. “500 euros kenya” - £440.94 and 53,000 Kenyan shillings. But I’m sure you knew that.
Comparison – Wolfram Alpha makes it very easy to compare items. Just type in any two things e.g. “London, Tokyo”, and you get data about each placed next to each other, which makes it easy to see it all at a glance.
Combining terms - If you want detailed information about several things, on Google you have to search for them one at a time. In fact, the more terms you enter into Google the more confused it becomes. Wolfram Alpha loves more queries, and as long as it has data on them it will spit out comparative data in a clear graph or chart. Example: if you want info on “apple microsoft dell HP” you get their comparative trade prices, a chart comparing Market Cap, revenue, employees and much more. Add in ‘Lenovo’ though trips it up, as it clearly doesn’t have data on the latter.
Calculation - Wolfram Alpha is based on Mathmatica, from Wolfram Research, so it’s no surprise that if you enter in mathematical formulae it will be in computer heaven e.g. x^2 sin(x). If you enter in “14.9% apr 6 years” it will also estimate the loan amount for you with graphs – in a flash.
Detail - If you type in ‘nearest star’ it won’t just give you an answer – it will tell you the difference from earth, it’s magnitude, it’s spectral class, it’s surface temperature and it’s mass. Wolfram Alpha is a bit of a nerd like that. However, in this case it’s also WRONG! It gives the answer as ‘Proxima Centauri’, whereas everyone knows it’s actually the Sun!
Here are five things that should really be entered into Google.
Sports – it doesn’t know much about football teams. I mean real football teams, where they kick the ball with their foot – not pick it up and run with it types. Enter Liverpool Football Club and it gives you nothing. Do the same with Manchester United, if you must – no dice.
Celebrity – if you want to know the latest on a celeb, don’t use Wolfram Alpha. It will give you their name, date of birth, place of birth and a timeline. Not much gossip though.
Social networking - Wolfram Alpha is very scientific and takes things rather literally. If you type ‘Twitter’ into it – you get a dictionary definition and the fact that its first recorded use was 635 years ago. Clearly it isn’t into the whole Twitter thing!
Planning your evening out – Type ‘Greek restaurants london’ into Google and you get a list with their location. Do the same in Wolfram Alpha and it gives you the Greek translation of ‘Greek restaurants london’. Nerrrrrrd.
Philosophy - It relies on humans to provide it with data. Type “is there a god” into Google and you’ll get links to a wealth of philosophy. Ask the same of our new friend and it gives you, “Additional functionality for this topic is under development…” You’re telling me.
Rated: 80% (2 votes)
Loading ...Comment by Jennifer Clon - May 20, 2009 on 7:12 pm
I understand that it is not Google. I also understand that it demands way too much of the user to get anything out of it at all. I am not a stoopid gurl by any means yet I gave up trying after 15 minutes of getting doesn’t know what to do with your input messages. I could suggest a thing or two WolframAlpha can do with my input, none of them pleasant.
Comment by - May 21, 2009 on 7:35 am
hi!can you be my facebook?
Comment by - May 21, 2009 on 9:35 am
Jennifer- amused! I know where you’re coming from, it does make me feel a bit stupid, but learn it’s language and I’m sure it will prove an invaluable tool.
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