Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Earthquake Damage]

Furthermore: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+meaning+of+life%3F

It fails to answer your question.  It instead gives the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.  It answers not only the wrong question, but an unknown one at that.  I would've been more impressed if it'd answered "Every rose has its thorn." 

[Yanlin]

Furthermore: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+the+meaning+of+life%3F

It fails to answer your question.  It instead gives the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything.  It answers not only the wrong question, but an unknown one at that.  I would've been more impressed if it'd answered "Every rose has its thorn." 

http://www.google.com/search?q=Answer+to+the+Ultimate+Question+of+Life%2C+the+Universe%2C+and+Everything+&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_en___IL251

Google actually gives you the correct answer.

[Jim Groovester]

It's interesting, if rough around the edges. Since Wolfram is the company behind Mathematica, it's easy to see why this search engine would impress people with mathematical experience and would confound people without it.

But it is very rough. For example, I typed in 'e^i*pi + 1', and it returned the correct answer. Then I tried 'the integral of e^{x^2}', and it returned the correct result. I then tried 'Stoke's Theorem', and it returned nothing. Furthermore, I typed in 'flux', and by flux I mean the dot product of a vector field and the area vector of a surface, not metallurgical flux. And it returned nothing. And then I typed in 'flux capacitor' for the fun of it.

It's very rough, pretty slow, and not entirely helpful always. But it has potential. As soon as it works incredibly quickly and has Google's ability to psychically know exactly what you're looking for, it will be a useful resource.

[Ampersand]

It's getting there. The reason for the slowness is probably the number of people online doing what you're doing; experimenting with it.

They're still putting the finishing touches on it as it is, and in a few months, it'll probably be much more capable.

[Gorjo MacGrymm]

Wolfram is the Earth Computer.  Its answers are stale and without explanation.

What is the meaning of life?  42.

When I ask a question, I usually am looking for a detailed explanation, not a factoid.

[codezero]

It doesn't know the unladen airspeed velocity of a sparrow either.

[Yanlin]

Now we'll never know how Arthur got those coconuts.

[Vucar Fikodastesh]

It doesn't know the unladen airspeed velocity of a sparrow either.

I does however know the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, but only after you tell it whether you meant African or European swallow.

[Yanlin]

Ask Wolfram what does it say about his power level.

[Okenido]

http://www3.wolframalpha.com/Calculate/MSP/MSP1061195h1b0118ff92ch00002ia6184h8adg7a73?MSPStoreType=image/gif&s=14

That's its answer.

[Tack]

Necroing just so I can say.

The stupid thing is wrong. I enjoy looking up my birthdate, to see who shares it - but the "Meaning of life, the universe and everything = 42"

Not the fucking Question. The answer. The entire novel series is them trying to find out the question.


EDIT: And can google do THIS? http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=How+are+you+today%3F
Though I admit, alice is better.

[Mr Tk]

Can google do this? Are you skynet?

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

Can google do this? Are you skynet?

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Why%3F
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Why+not%3F
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Indeed%3F

Also, fail! http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Does+God+exist%3F

I didn't know this. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=What+is+Orange%3F&a=*C.Orange-_*GivenName-&a=*DPClash.ColorE.Orange-_**Mathematica.Orange-.dflt-

[Sensei]

Aside from the fact that it's fairly poor right now (It needs to be cached more, remember google has been collecting data since the internet) I'm sort of unsure about how I'm supposed to use this in a practical situation- aside from asking it questions to make it say internet memes. I see that it's STOCKED with answers, but to truly be an answer engine, it ought to be able to generate an answer to "how tall was abe lincoln" just by reading pages, not from its own database.

[Armok]

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=speed+of+light+in+lighyears+per+year