4 ms·

Wolfram Alpha - A Force To Be Reckoned With

12 points by kkleiner 17y ago

xiaoma 17y ago
The integrator is excellent.
clemesha 17y ago
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 http://wolframalpha.com/input/?i=san+diego+tides
- sfphotoarts 17y ago
  this is google's first response for that: http://ocean.peterbrueggeman.com/piertide.html http://ocean.peterbrueggeman.com/piertide.html and it's the exact same graph, except its much faster than WA.
- schwanksta 17y ago
  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.
Dilpil 17y ago
The only thing I really use Wolfram for is an integral calculator, but what an integral calculator it is!
- secret 17y ago
  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).
zzzmarcus 17y ago
Here's a thoughtful alternative take on Wolfram Alpha: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram-alpha-and-hubristic-user.html http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram...
ericb 17y ago
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.

12 points by kkleiner 17y ago

The integrator is excellent.

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 http://wolframalpha.com/input/?i=san+diego+tides

sfphotoarts 17y ago
this is google's first response for that: http://ocean.peterbrueggeman.com/piertide.html http://ocean.peterbrueggeman.com/piertide.html and it's the exact same graph, except its much faster than WA.
schwanksta 17y ago
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.

Dilpil 17y ago

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

secret 17y ago
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).

zzzmarcus 17y ago

Here's a thoughtful alternative take on Wolfram Alpha: http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram-alpha-and-hubristic-user.html http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2009/07/wolfram...

ericb 17y ago

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.