Computational Search Engine – Wolfram|Alpha
When we look for something in the web we use search engines. Like many of you my favourite SE is Google. The term googling started upon doing search using the Google. Then comes Bing. Now what do we search using SE? I asked my friends & collogues about this. Majority of the answers are almost anything. Well I also think more or less the same, but with an assumption of existence of the information on the web. This means I search for things like address of restaurant or coffee shop, specific product review, news for certain things or may be work related information etc. I believe most of you also do the same. In simple words we search information present in the web using SE.
Now if you need to find out the some information like 30 degree C equivalent F or 8% tax upon $1200 or interest amount upon $4500 with 13.5% yearly compound interest etc. Best way is to find out pen & paper and a calculator to do the math. I found out an interesting search engine powered by computational power.
The tagline Wolfram|Alpha says that it is the computational knowledge engine. The home page contain a nice interface to search with self-explanatory hints. The interface also provides random link to generate search items in the search box randomly. IMO this feature is helpful for the newbie with Wolfram|Alpha. The tour is also helpful. Same way examples are really good to understand the we can use Wolfram|Alpha
I found lot of good resource in Wolfram|Alpha. Likely they have announced API version 2.0 with various features. It is free for personal/experimental use. They also provide commercial license. For webmasters & bloggers Wolfram|Alpha provides a wide variety of widgets in different categories. Here are two among them that I have used in this page.
Wolfram|Alpha is a result of continuous development effort from Wolfram Research driven by the key person Stephen Wolfram. Two most important key component of WA is Wolfram Mathematica & A New Kind of Science(NKS).
Though I have started using Wolfram|Alpha for few days but I need to admit its usefulness. I am exploring its features day by day. I am sure you will like this too. I will feel better if you share your experience with Wolfram|Alpha.
