Steve E Posted May 18, 2009 Report Share Posted May 18, 2009 So you're writing your novel and suddenly you need to know the population of Utah. I'm not saying you will need to know this but you might. To that end we have a great many online resources to choose from. As for myself, my first instinct is to go to my Wikipedia Widget and type "Utah" and thereby pull up the Wiki page on Utah, with a plethora of information about the state, including its population. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia-style resource with all its positive and negative characteristics. The most negative aspect being plowing through the pages to find that little piece of data you need. A much faster way, for this particular example, would be to type "Population of Utah" into Google. The answer comes right up. Same for Ask.com. Yet we/I tend to go to Wikipedia first because I have confidence that the data is there, somewhere. It's an encyclopedia after all. Right? But what if the answer I want requires some calculation? The distance from NYC to LA? The equivalent buying power of US$500 in 1776? The density of (the fabric) Kevlar? (Does it float?) Pi to the tenth power or the 100th decimal place? In short, what if I need a search engine that does the math for me? Now I happen to know that all of the above questions have Web sites that will calculate your answer for you, if you can find them. But Stephen Wolfram's WolframAlpha site seems to do all the math stuff for you. Downside: It doesn't do spelling suggestions and asking it a question takes a bit of practice. (Review their examples.) Big upside: It does logical connections. (Type "Height Boulder Dam" and it returns "Hoover Dam | highest point" because its name changed. So, if while you're writing you need a number, no matter how tricky, wolframalpha.com may be the way to go. It's still not Wikipedia or Google or even Ask or Dogpile but it's new and different and still evolving. -Thoth. BTW: WolframAlpha also seem to have a sense of humor. Click here. For a 10 minute video click . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codemer Posted May 19, 2009 Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 But what if the answer I want requires some calculation? The distance from NYC to LA? The equivalent buying power of US$500 in 1776? The density of (the fabric) Kevlar? (Does it float?) Pi to the tenth power or the 100th decimal place? In short, what if I need a search engine that does the math for me? Now I happen to know that all of the above questions have Web sites that will calculate your answer for you, if you can find them. But Stephen Wolfram's WolframAlpha site seems to do all the math stuff for you. Downside: It doesn't do spelling suggestions and asking it a question takes a bit of practice. (Review their examples.) Big upside: It does logical connections. (Type "Height Boulder Dam" and it returns "Hoover Dam | highest point" because its name changed. So, if while you're writing you need a number, no matter how tricky, wolframalpha.com may be the way to go. It's still not Wikipedia or Google or even Ask or Dogpile but it's new and different and still evolving. I'm not sure WA has anything up on Google. Putting "pi to the tenth power" into google dutifully returns "93 648.0475". From a development point of view, a fellow developer was just explaining to me how WA is a closed system. Google built up its development community by contributing a lot to open source. Also, the first result Google returns for "Height Boulder Dam" is the Wikipedia entry for Hoover Dam. I think I'm going to wait a bit longer to see how this plays out before changing my default search engine. The big factors for me are viewability of results, lack of ad noise, and reliability of results. IF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted May 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2009 Yep. As I said: "It's still not Wikipedia or Google or even Ask or Dogpile but it's new and different and still evolving." So I agree that it's not time to change your default search engine. But if you're looking for (for example) the flight time or distance between NYC and LA, WA is better. (Type: NYC to LA) WA also has a sense of humor. (Type "Hello" and it responds "Hello human". Yes, I know it's lame but it's cute/lame. WA isn't really built to carry on a casual conversation...yet. Perhaps after it merges with SkyNet...) Thanks for responding, Isaac. Nice to meet another adventurous soul. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codemer Posted May 20, 2009 Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/?p=475 IF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 20, 2009 http://www.thedoghousediaries.com/?p=475 Thanks Isaac. -Thoth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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