

Wolfram Alpha - A Force To Be Reckoned With - kkleiner
http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/27/wolfram-alpha-a-force-to-be-reckoned-with/

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ericb
I think the warts in the natural language interface and limitations in data-
sets made it difficult to see initially, but I really feel like there is
something very exciting about Wolfram Alpha.

Wolfram Alpha is doing something that feels almost like thinking. I give it
input and it parses it, determines what I want, combines data in a novel way,
and feeds me output. When it gets my query right and has data, it feels like
I'm seeing a capability that was human-only previously now falling into the
realm of AI.

Edit: Also, it is improving. At launch, I couldn't get it to understand 2
slices of bread and 1 slice of cheese (choked on the cheese) and now it does.

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zzzmarcus
Here's a thoughtful alternative take on Wolfram Alpha:

[http://unqualified-
reservations.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram...](http://unqualified-
reservations.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram-alpha-and-hubristic-user.html)

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clemesha
I use Wolfram Alpha for real on an almost daily basis - before I go for a
surf, if you can believe that.

I've found that their tide report is far superior to the other offerings that
I've found on the web. See here for an example:
<http://wolframalpha.com/input/?i=san+diego+tides>

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schwanksta
I don't get anything for that result. Or "Los Angeles tides" or "Santa Monica
tides."

If I just put in "tides", it'll give me a dropdown where I can select a
station -- I'm assuming the station that reports tides -- but after clicking a
station near me, I still get nothing.

Wolfram and I have never really gotten along well.

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Dilpil
The only thing I really use Wolfram for is an integral calculator, but what an
integral calculator it is!

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secret
I agree. I've been using it for differential equations- it's easier to jump
into than Mathematica (I haven't had time to get into the syntax yet).

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xiaoma
The integrator is excellent.

