Wolfram|Alpha - A New Type of Web Engine
Monday, June 15th, 2009
Wolfram|Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com) is a new type of web engine. Not a search engine like Google, but rather a computational knowledge engine. It generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links. The ultimate goal is to allow users to enter questions rather than simply typing keywords.
It has a wealth of information, for example you can type in Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and get the basic biography of His Highness the Emir. However, you can also type in How old was Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani when Barack Obama was born, and get the exact answer (which is 10 years, 8 months, 3 days).
The engine also constantly updates its answers, for instance type in moon and it will tell you the distance from the Earth to the Moon. But it’s not just the average distance you would find with a search engine, it’s the actual distance right now, which varies from hour to hour.
One of the big differentiators with this Fact Engine is that its content is peer-reviewed rather than user generated - like Google or Wikipedia. Consequently, it becomes a wonderful online tool for students, scientists, researchers, teachers and journalists. The data is quite current; for example, try h1n1 or swine flu and you will be told how many cases and deaths there have been, either numerically or graphically (linear or logarithmic).
The beauty behind the system is that it is able to take vasts amount of factual information and then break them down to their simplest level; and then rebuild it based on users’ input and requirements. The theory behind this lies in the cellular automata systems in which a set of simple rules and data can be used to generate surprisingly diverse patterns. Consequently, there is no top-down hierarchy. Instead, the basic building blocks interact only with other nearby parts, and thus complex global behaviors emerge.
But aside from the philosophical and theoretical aspects from this pseudo-artificial intelligence system, Wolfram Alpha is still just fun to use. The practicality behind the system is also deceptively useful, as it applies to all walks of life and trade. Give it a try: http://www.wolframalpha.com.
Back to Articles
Wolfram|Alpha (http://www.wolframalpha.com) is a new type of web engine. Not a search engine like Google, but rather a computational knowledge engine. It generates output by doing computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of searching the web and returning links. The ultimate goal is to allow users to enter questions rather than simply typing keywords.
It has a wealth of information, for example you can type in Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and get the basic biography of His Highness the Emir. However, you can also type in How old was Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani when Barack Obama was born, and get the exact answer (which is 10 years, 8 months, 3 days).
The engine also constantly updates its answers, for instance type in moon and it will tell you the distance from the Earth to the Moon. But it’s not just the average distance you would find with a search engine, it’s the actual distance right now, which varies from hour to hour.
One of the big differentiators with this Fact Engine is that its content is peer-reviewed rather than user generated - like Google or Wikipedia. Consequently, it becomes a wonderful online tool for students, scientists, researchers, teachers and journalists. The data is quite current; for example, try h1n1 or swine flu and you will be told how many cases and deaths there have been, either numerically or graphically (linear or logarithmic).
The beauty behind the system is that it is able to take vasts amount of factual information and then break them down to their simplest level; and then rebuild it based on users’ input and requirements. The theory behind this lies in the cellular automata systems in which a set of simple rules and data can be used to generate surprisingly diverse patterns. Consequently, there is no top-down hierarchy. Instead, the basic building blocks interact only with other nearby parts, and thus complex global behaviors emerge.
But aside from the philosophical and theoretical aspects from this pseudo-artificial intelligence system, Wolfram Alpha is still just fun to use. The practicality behind the system is also deceptively useful, as it applies to all walks of life and trade. Give it a try: http://www.wolframalpha.com.
