4 ms·

This sums up the new Wolfram Language in one command - ways of combining data and algorithms in novel/interesting, but practically useless ways.

taliesinb 13y ago
Well, it's Alpha, not the Wolfram Language. But I don't think it takes much imagination to see how things like http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/visualize-celebrity-gossip/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/visualize-celebrity-... or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/plan-a-city-tour/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/plan-a-city-tour/ or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/track-a-gps-equipped-wolf/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/track-a-gps-equipped... or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/email-freeze-alerts/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/email-freeze-alerts/ or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/classify-images-as-day-or-night/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/classify-images-as-d... could be the basis of something commercially valuable or publicly useful, especially given how easy they are to create. (edit: and those examples are not even designed for commercial appeal, just concision and cool factor).
banachtarski 13y ago
No it really doesn't. Think about the underlying abstraction. The point is that somewhere, the engine knew how to define a transformation "dog vision" on a set of objects, namely photos. Taking it further, it's possible that "dog" was a transformation on "vision" and other visions are available. As a math major who used Wolfram alpha for the last 3 years of my undergrad some odd years ago, I have to say I had an overwhelmingly positive impression of the product.
captainmuon 13y ago
And it still has glaring omissions. One thing it still can't do is group theory. I'm not a mathematician, but I occasionally need some group theory stuff at work. This is stuff that is either tabulated or can be calculated easily by a computer. Like "show me a matrix representation of SU(3)" or "decompositions of SU(5)" or "irreps of SU(10)" or something. Group theorists have these little equations with circled operators, like 1+8=3 (imagine numbers in bold and a circle around the plus. I just made up the numbers, but they're usually as wierd), that I can never wrap my head around no matter how often I've tried. But they are kind of important for particle physics, and I hope that wolfram alpha will eventually incorporate that stuff. Actual particle physics is also lacking, everything besides simple queries like "mass of the top quark" is missing (and the mass it gives is not up-to-date). I would like it to have "decay modes of neutralino-1 at m0=1000, m12=1000, ..." or "higgs mass=126, particle-such-and-such-mass=1000, solve for parameter-x" and it would show me valid values for x resulting in these masses. This is all easily implementable, but I guess the market for it is too small (otoh, I don't know what the market for "dog vision" is...(
Aardwolf 13y ago
I tried replacing dog by cat, and it doesn't work. Why? Also, for the inverse gamma function of complex numbers: gamma^-1(1+10i) works. gamma^-1(1-10i) confuses its parser (doesn't know how to interpret input, even though the previous and next one work). gamma^-1(1-10.0i) works again. Why?
- eternalban 13y ago
  Cat worked for me.
  - Aardwolf 13y ago
    I tried again, and still doesn't work, it says: Using closest Wolfram|Alpha interpretation: photo of Robert S. McNamara (so it ignores the "cat" part. the fact that the image it shows has a strange yellow color is a coincidence)

taliesinb 13y ago

Well, it's Alpha, not the Wolfram Language. But I don't think it takes much imagination to see how things like http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/visualize-celebrity-gossip/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/visualize-celebrity-... or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/plan-a-city-tour/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/plan-a-city-tour/ or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/track-a-gps-equipped-wolf/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/track-a-gps-equipped... or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/email-freeze-alerts/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/email-freeze-alerts/ or http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/classify-images-as-day-or-night/ http://www.wolfram.com/language/gallery/classify-images-as-d... could be the basis of something commercially valuable or publicly useful, especially given how easy they are to create. (edit: and those examples are not even designed for commercial appeal, just concision and cool factor).

banachtarski 13y ago

No it really doesn't. Think about the underlying abstraction. The point is that somewhere, the engine knew how to define a transformation "dog vision" on a set of objects, namely photos. Taking it further, it's possible that "dog" was a transformation on "vision" and other visions are available. As a math major who used Wolfram alpha for the last 3 years of my undergrad some odd years ago, I have to say I had an overwhelmingly positive impression of the product.

captainmuon 13y ago

And it still has glaring omissions. One thing it still can't do is group theory. I'm not a mathematician, but I occasionally need some group theory stuff at work. This is stuff that is either tabulated or can be calculated easily by a computer. Like "show me a matrix representation of SU(3)" or "decompositions of SU(5)" or "irreps of SU(10)" or something. Group theorists have these little equations with circled operators, like 1+8=3 (imagine numbers in bold and a circle around the plus. I just made up the numbers, but they're usually as wierd), that I can never wrap my head around no matter how often I've tried. But they are kind of important for particle physics, and I hope that wolfram alpha will eventually incorporate that stuff. Actual particle physics is also lacking, everything besides simple queries like "mass of the top quark" is missing (and the mass it gives is not up-to-date). I would like it to have "decay modes of neutralino-1 at m0=1000, m12=1000, ..." or "higgs mass=126, particle-such-and-such-mass=1000, solve for parameter-x" and it would show me valid values for x resulting in these masses. This is all easily implementable, but I guess the market for it is too small (otoh, I don't know what the market for "dog vision" is...(

Aardwolf 13y ago

I tried replacing dog by cat, and it doesn't work. Why? Also, for the inverse gamma function of complex numbers: gamma^-1(1+10i) works. gamma^-1(1-10i) confuses its parser (doesn't know how to interpret input, even though the previous and next one work). gamma^-1(1-10.0i) works again. Why?

eternalban 13y ago
Cat worked for me.
- Aardwolf 13y ago
  I tried again, and still doesn't work, it says: Using closest Wolfram|Alpha interpretation: photo of Robert S. McNamara (so it ignores the "cat" part. the fact that the image it shows has a strange yellow color is a coincidence)