I have a hard time with the UI. They never seem to be able to parse any useful query I come up with. For example, I would love to see a graph of the number of large earthquakes per year over the past 100 years or so. I tried "number of earthquakes > 6.0 per year", "number of earthquakes per year > 6.0", and various other permutations, but couldn't get it to tell me anything useful at all.<br>
<br>Kevin<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Mar 4, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Michael R. Wolf <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:MichaelRWolf@att.net">MichaelRWolf@att.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Stephen Wolfram (of Mathematica fame) has created <a href="http://www.WolframAlpha.com" target="_blank">www.WolframAlpha.com</a>, an effort to create a GUI and API "to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by everyone".<br>
<br>
- Of course, simple stuff is simple: 2 * 3 ^ 4: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%202%20*%203%20" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%202%20*%203%20</a>^%204<br>
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- Medium stuff is beautiful: plot sin x cos y: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+sin+x+cos+y" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=plot+sin+x+cos+y</a><br>
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It gets almost ridiculously fun, helpful, and useful...<br>
<br>
- Generate a CAPTCHA: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=CAPTCHA+Wolfram+Alpha" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=CAPTCHA+Wolfram+Alpha</a><br>
- Compare screen resolutions: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=VGA%2C+SVGA%2C+SXGA%2C+QXGA%2C+WXGA" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=VGA%2C+SVGA%2C+SXGA%2C+QXGA%2C+WXGA</a><br>
- Compare GDP of 3 countries: gdp france, england, australia: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=gdp%20france%2C%20england%2C%20australia" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=gdp%20france%2C%20england%2C%20australia</a><br>
- Pick an afternoon snack: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10+peanut+M%26Ms%2C+2+slices+of+swiss+cheese%2C+1+apple" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=10+peanut+M%26Ms%2C+2+slices+of+swiss+cheese%2C+1+apple</a><br>
<br>
There are *loads* of information sources stashed in there in realms that folks like you would be interested in: linguistics, material science, units & measures, computer systems, materials, chemistry, life science.<br>
<br>
- <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/</a><br>
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It's rich. Very rich, in deed....<br>
<br>
In fact, digging around in the siesmology data, I accidently found out about the Chile earthquake (while looking for Haiti) before it hit print, and when there was only 1 article in the Google cache.<br>
<br>
- earthquakes 2010 with magnitude > 6.0: <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=earthquakes+2010+with+magnitude+%3E+6.0" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=earthquakes+2010+with+magnitude+%3E+6.0</a><br>
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Have fun. Report back with your favorite find.<br>
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Enjoy,<br>
Michael<br>
<br>
P.S. I haven't even looked at the API, but imagine how cool that could be mashed up....<br>
<br>
P.P.S. There's also an iPhone app. Great for resolving "bar bets" of the quantatative kind, like why is Tungsten (think W - Wolfram) is a better incandescent filament than copper or iron<br>
- <a href="http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=tungston%2C+copper%2C+iron" target="_blank">http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=tungston%2C+copper%2C+iron</a><br>
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-- <br>
Michael R. Wolf<br>
All mammals learn by playing!<br>
<a href="mailto:MichaelRWolf@att.net" target="_blank">MichaelRWolf@att.net</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br>