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Test Driving the Wolfram Alpha

Posted by kdawson on from the know-what-i-know-if-you-know-what-i-mean dept.

SilverMind writes in to note a blog entry at Byte Size Biology describing in detail a few hours spent with Wolfram Alpha (which we have discussed before). "After playing around with Wolfram Alpha for a few hours, I can safely say the following: it's different, it's incomplete, it's idiosyncratic, and it's funky cool. And no, it will not dethrone Google, nor does it aim to do so."

13 of 124 comments (clear)

  1. Needs a better name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How the hell am I supposed to "Wolfram Alpha" something? No one will ever say that.

    1. Re:Needs a better name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      A suitable portmanteau may emerge. Wolfa? Walpha? Wralph?

    2. Re:Needs a better name by SoVeryTired · · Score: 2, Funny

      Surely "Wolf" would be better. Wou could even spell it with a "ph" to emphasise the "alpha" part.

      Instead of a googlewhack, you'd get a Lone Wolf. Basically, everything you did on the internet would sound about eight times cooler.

      --
      Slashdot: news for Apple. Stuff that Apple.
  2. Trek by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    But does it do the Majel Barrett voice?

    On the other hand, that would make looking for porn far too awkward. Nvm.

  3. Which Wolfram Alpha by russotto · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is it Wolfram Alpha V, or Wolfram Alpha VI? That's vitally important!

    1. Re:Which Wolfram Alpha by h4rdc0d3 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It is a reference to a pair of planets named in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Seti Alpha V and Seti Alpha VI.

      I won't explain any more in case you have not seen the movie, though if you haven't, what are you doing in here? How did you get past security? ;)

  4. Re:Video of Alpha in action by Hurricane78 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Use Qalculate!, and define your own units. :)

    Oh, and remember to define "B" as byte and "b" as bit, or you might end up with somethingsomething megabarns of memory. ^^

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  5. Re:Not A Search Engine by Hurricane78 · · Score: 4, Funny

    For those of you who aren't gonna RTFA, I would like to...

    tl;dr. ;)

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  6. Alpha? by Znooptree · · Score: 5, Funny

    When Google get their hands on this, it will be Wolfram Beta forever.

  7. Re:What a giant viral marketing campain... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    its supposed to go public on the 18th. That's a bit more than a week and a lot less than half a century.

    If I had access to Wolfram Alpha, I could tell you exactly how much it is. :\

  8. Ruby does this already... by jonaskoelker · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ruby can do this already:

    $ echo 'printf("%d\n", (6*9).to_s(13));' | ruby

  9. Re:Video of Alpha in action by abundance · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm from Italy and I can report that youtube has not yet implemented rickroll protection for my country

  10. wolframsbeta by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Check out http://wolframsbeta.com

    - gave me the answer to the atomic number of molybden
    - answered me the question of how old Kurt Cobain would be today

    =works!