Wolfram alpha is a different type of search engine, and if this is your first time on the website, you will be spending a lot of time looking at the homepage. Is it a search engine? Is it a calculator? What is that?
It’s a bit of both. It is a search engine that calculates answers based on high level algorithms and knowledge. It might sound too close to a college course to you, but you’ll be surprised how useful it can be for everyday life – and you’re probably already using another device to research the kind of information Wolfram Alpha excels at. to supply. Let’s dive in.
Characteristics
Wolfram Alpha’s research topics are divided into four categories – Mathematics, Science and Technology, Society and Culture, and Daily Life – with sub-themes below. By clicking on a subtopic, you will see several examples of related query searches.
The math is pretty straightforward – you enter what you need to calculate and the results show you the final answer and the steps to get there. This makes Wolfram Alpha unbeatable for math students or anyone working in the field.
The Science and Technology section is similar. Within this framework, however, are options that the everyday user may find useful. For example, you can convert grams to ounces when cooking, find out the size of your clothes in another country for help with shopping, or determine how much paint you need to purchase to cover a room in your house. House.
The categories Society and Culture and Daily Life will be the most useful for users. Think about what you might ask Alexa (or whatever voice assistant you want) on a normal day – things like “What time is it in London?” Or “What size turkey do I need for 15 people?” This is the kind of information that Wolfram can help you with, provided you know how to enter the search query. And there are several examples for each subtopic to help you determine what to look for and how to look for.
Privacy
Wolfram Alpha is not a private search engine, and what they collect and how they use your information are shown in their privacy policy. In essence, there is a lot of information that Wolfram Alpha can collect about you, and it can be disclosed to third parties, as well as be used to add you to the Wolfram mailing list (which you should be able to unsubscribe from).
The search engine also uses cookies, and while you can configure your browser to block cookies, the company says this can negatively impact your search results.
User experience
You can’t type anything into Wolfram Alpha, like you can with Google, and expect to get results (or at least the right results). For example, research such as “What are the healthiest foods?” “What’s on TV tonight” and “Paleo Diet” all returned nothing research-related – while something was returned at all.
Instead, you need to know how to search in Wolfram and what kind of information to look for to get anywhere. But there are so many examples that you’ll get used to them in no time, as long as you take the time to learn how to communicate with him.
Here’s an example of what the search results look like. It is in response to “Oscar for Best Actress 1982”.
The most entertaining section of Wolfram Alpha is the Surprises category tucked away under Everyday Life. Ask Wolfram Alpha to tell you a cheesy joke, give him a tongue twister to respond to, make him recite a rhyme, and more.
Platforms
Wolfram Alpha is accessible through a browser, and there are also mobile apps for Android, iPad and iPhone, Kindle Fire, and Windows phones and tablets.
There’s also Wolfram Alpha Pro, the upgraded paid version of the basic search engine, but it’s not clear what you get for the price. Two of the main features are file uploads for data analysis and form-based interfaces called web applications.
When you go to page dedicated to data analysis, the examples don’t seem to work. Maybe it’s because you are not a Pro user, but the idea here is to see the functionality before you register.
The sample web applications are more useful. This is an example of the auto loan application.
The competition
There isn’t a lot of competition for Wolfram Alpha other than the AI your chosen virtual assistant uses – and even then devices like Alexa often return irrelevant responses. Yes, Wolfram Alpha can also return irrelevant answers if you type the search the wrong way around, but with so much advice on the site it’s easy to get around. Plus, it’s good to have the answers in front of you so you can see them and slowly go through the details.
Final verdict
Wolfram Alpha is a whole different kind of search engine, and while you can’t search anything and everything with it, which it does, it does very well. Whether you are trying to come up with a geometric solution for the classroom, get stats on a car you want to buy, remember who the president of a foreign country is, or find out the rating of a movie you want to watch. as a family, Wolfram / Alpha can provide the answers, as well as more relevant information that you probably want to know.
Go back to the basics to learn what an algorithm is with our explicator. Read it here.
