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I know! It's like thinking that Ducati competes with Amtrak. Sure their products have similar objectives, but their function, specs, market, etc are completel

I know! It's like thinking that Ducati competes with Amtrak. Sure their products have similar objectives, but their function, specs, market, etc are completely different.

frossie 18y ago
Okay, can you provide a bit more detail besides the analogy? For example, reading one of the links referenced in the OP, it says "It doesn’t simply return documents that (might) contain the answers, like Google does, and it isn’t just a giant database of knowledge, like the Wikipedia. It doesn’t simply parse natural language and then use that to retrieve documents, like Powerset, for example. Instead, Wolfram Alpha actually computes the answers to a wide range of questions — like questions that have factual answers such as “What country is Timbuktu in?” or “How many protons are in a hydrogen atom?” or “What is the average rainfall in Seattle?” http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/08/wolfram-alpha-computes-answers-to-factual-questions-this-is-going-to-be-big/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/08/wolfram-alpha-computes-... But Google does some of those things indirectly at least. For example, in a Google Spreadsheet I can type =GoogleLookup("hydrogen", "number of protons") and the cell returns one. =GoogleLookup("Timbuktu", "country") returns "Mali" and =GoogleLookup("Seattle", "rainfall") returns "36 inches". Now I don't know whether there is some syntax to do these from the main search, but it seems to cover some similar ground. I am guessing since everybody is very excited about Wolfram Alpha that there must be more than this, or qualitatively different. [Edit following comment below: I am not saying they are competing, I was asking whether the same underlying technology is powering both, for example with Wolfram being a more complex version of whatever GoogleLookup is doing, or whether the algorithmic approach is fundamentally different. I will admit to not watching the 2 hour webcast and looking for a quick answer]
- jpwagner 18y ago
  My comment on Wolfram|Alpha limitations: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=584045 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=584045 Simple example of Google Limitation (I'm sure there are better): =GoogleLookup("Ruler of France","1821") =GoogleLookup("1821","Ruler of France") both return null. What is the entity? However, if I want to find out when the next AC/DC Concert is, Wolfram|Alpha probably won't be much help. They are really not competing...Clear?
- vaksel 18y ago
  I wonder how many people actually use Google Lookup instead of just opening a new tab and searching Google
  - jpwagner 18y ago
    GoogleLookup is useful sometimes. If the rainfall changes in Seattle, your spreadsheet would update... Although another proton won't likely be discoverd in a Hydrogen atom.
- zackattack 18y ago
  Wow, neat. GoogleLookup: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54199 http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe... Comprehensive function list: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=82712 http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...

I know! It's like thinking that Ducati competes with Amtrak. Sure their products have similar objectives, but their function, specs, market, etc are completely different.

frossie 18y ago

Okay, can you provide a bit more detail besides the analogy? For example, reading one of the links referenced in the OP, it says "It doesn’t simply return documents that (might) contain the answers, like Google does, and it isn’t just a giant database of knowledge, like the Wikipedia. It doesn’t simply parse natural language and then use that to retrieve documents, like Powerset, for example. Instead, Wolfram Alpha actually computes the answers to a wide range of questions — like questions that have factual answers such as “What country is Timbuktu in?” or “How many protons are in a hydrogen atom?” or “What is the average rainfall in Seattle?” http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/08/wolfram-alpha-computes-answers-to-factual-questions-this-is-going-to-be-big/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/08/wolfram-alpha-computes-... But Google does some of those things indirectly at least. For example, in a Google Spreadsheet I can type =GoogleLookup("hydrogen", "number of protons") and the cell returns one. =GoogleLookup("Timbuktu", "country") returns "Mali" and =GoogleLookup("Seattle", "rainfall") returns "36 inches". Now I don't know whether there is some syntax to do these from the main search, but it seems to cover some similar ground. I am guessing since everybody is very excited about Wolfram Alpha that there must be more than this, or qualitatively different. [Edit following comment below: I am not saying they are competing, I was asking whether the same underlying technology is powering both, for example with Wolfram being a more complex version of whatever GoogleLookup is doing, or whether the algorithmic approach is fundamentally different. I will admit to not watching the 2 hour webcast and looking for a quick answer]

jpwagner 18y ago
My comment on Wolfram|Alpha limitations: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=584045 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=584045 Simple example of Google Limitation (I'm sure there are better): =GoogleLookup("Ruler of France","1821") =GoogleLookup("1821","Ruler of France") both return null. What is the entity? However, if I want to find out when the next AC/DC Concert is, Wolfram|Alpha probably won't be much help. They are really not competing...Clear?
vaksel 18y ago
I wonder how many people actually use Google Lookup instead of just opening a new tab and searching Google
- jpwagner 18y ago
  GoogleLookup is useful sometimes. If the rainfall changes in Seattle, your spreadsheet would update... Although another proton won't likely be discoverd in a Hydrogen atom.
zackattack 18y ago
Wow, neat. GoogleLookup: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54199 http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe... Comprehensive function list: http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=82712 http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe...