5 ms·

Using it, you can tell there is some huge potential. For example, these nifty queries: us debt / us population / us life expectancy in days http://www.wolfra

by dcurtis 17y ago

Using it, you can tell there is some huge potential. For example, these nifty queries: us debt / us population / us life expectancy in days http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=us+debt+%2F+us+population+%2F+us+life+expectancy+in+days&asynchronous=false&equal=Submit http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=us+debt+%2F+us+populati... and (MSFT net income / MSFT employees) http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28MSFT+net+income+%2F+MSFT+employees%29&asynchronous=false&equal=Submit http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28MSFT+net+income+%2F+...

tokenadult 17y ago
us debt / us population / us life expectancy in days What does that mean, to you, in everyday language? I see what WolframAlpha did with that, but what is the implication of that answer for a real-world concern?
- jibiki 17y ago
  It is the amount of debt each American has to pay off each day. Except, you know, it isn't.
  - aneesh 17y ago
    Assuming zero interest :-)
    - quizbiz 17y ago
      Now if we could tell it to consider interest then I would be impressed.
      - silentOpen 17y ago
        You'd need an interest function. Use historical data? Specify a regression? Have it try to calculate last average? Even then, you'd need to have some objective value of worth to understand what $0.92 means. Right now, it only measures the value of the dollar. :-/
- johnnybgoode 17y ago
  Some kind of debt slavery calculation? :)
dbul 17y ago
It definitely still has a long way to go. For example, it cannot understand area Pittsburgh / area Kanazawa or population density Pittsburgh / population density Kanazawa which seems less complex than the above queries. Alpha is, however, aware of the populations of each city.
tl 17y ago
It still needs work for more complex queries: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=debt+%2F+pop++japan%2C+debt+%2F+pop+us%2C+debt+%2F+pop+france%2C+debt+%2F+pop+china http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=debt+%2F+pop++japan%2C+... So there's a small bug when you look at France. Also, it took trial and error to get a query that actually worked. (ex: comparing debt / pop / LE between multiple countries instead of debt / pop leads to more bugs)

by dcurtis 17y ago

tokenadult 17y ago

us debt / us population / us life expectancy in days What does that mean, to you, in everyday language? I see what WolframAlpha did with that, but what is the implication of that answer for a real-world concern?

jibiki 17y ago
It is the amount of debt each American has to pay off each day. Except, you know, it isn't.
- aneesh 17y ago
  Assuming zero interest :-)
  - quizbiz 17y ago
    Now if we could tell it to consider interest then I would be impressed.
    - silentOpen 17y ago
      You'd need an interest function. Use historical data? Specify a regression? Have it try to calculate last average? Even then, you'd need to have some objective value of worth to understand what $0.92 means. Right now, it only measures the value of the dollar. :-/
johnnybgoode 17y ago
Some kind of debt slavery calculation? :)

dbul 17y ago

It definitely still has a long way to go. For example, it cannot understand area Pittsburgh / area Kanazawa or population density Pittsburgh / population density Kanazawa which seems less complex than the above queries. Alpha is, however, aware of the populations of each city.

tl 17y ago

It still needs work for more complex queries: http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=debt+%2F+pop++japan%2C+debt+%2F+pop+us%2C+debt+%2F+pop+france%2C+debt+%2F+pop+china http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=debt+%2F+pop++japan%2C+... So there's a small bug when you look at France. Also, it took trial and error to get a query that actually worked. (ex: comparing debt / pop / LE between multiple countries instead of debt / pop leads to more bugs)