by Mark Ollig
Have
you used the powerful Internet search engine that provides better detail and
clarity than commonly used search engines with their endless web links?
This
feature-rich, online resource has been available for almost seven years – yet
it’s still not widely recognized.
Try
your next mathematical calculation, or search for information, using the
Wolfram|Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine.
Search
results are obtained through real-time computations using a vast, internal
collection of continually updated algorithms, and a pioneering computing
language.
Its
programs use “Wolfram Language” software created by Stephen Wolfram, which is
based on his Mathematica software programing language.
Wolfram,
56, is a scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist.
He
is also the founder and CEO of Wolfram|Alpha Research, which is headquartered
in Champaign, IL.
The
Wolfram|Alpha project began in 2005.
The
original Wolfram|Alpha computational data servers became available to the
public over the Internet May 15, 2009.
Wolfram|Alpha
has grown considerably since 2009, and is continually adding to its knowledge
base.
Its
processing uses some 10 million lines of Mathematica code, and its servers
contain terabytes of data.
Wolfram|Alpha
sources 32 specific disciplines, or areas of study and interest, you can
directly access for your research. Some of these disciplines include:
•
Mathematics.
•
Engineering.
•
Chemistry.
•
Music.
•
Health and Medicine.
•
Food and Nutrition.
•
Culture and Media.
•
People and History.
•
Web and Computer Systems.
•
Computational Sciences.
•
Astronomy.
•
Arts and Design.
•
Surprises.
“Surprises”
shows example sentences for “conversing” with Wolfram|Alpha, and sample
questions used within the study and interest areas.
The
Mathematics subject area includes many problem-solving examples.
One
can query specific values for solving a variety of complex mathematical
equations.
You
can do some serious math; such as: “integrate x^2sin^3 x dx” and see the
detailed, formulated results, and graphical plots of the integral.
The
Web and Computer Systems section contains much information about data networks,
Internet protocols, and website addresses or uniform resource locator (URL).
In
one example, I computed the data transfer time over devices using Wi-Fi
wireless networks with an 802.11n data transfer protocol.
This
section also provides information about “notable computers” used in the past.
Comparing
software products, obtaining information about various file formats, or finding
a program to work with a specific file, is also accessible.
There’s
a side-by-side wireless comparison feature. Type in wireless networks you want
compared; such as the data transfer rate of an 802.11n and an 802.11b wireless
network.
The
Web and Computer Systems section also includes a 12 character password and
captcha generator, and will analyze a password’s “strength.”
This
section had an easy-to-use hexadecimal, decimal, octal, and binary conversion
tool, which sure would have been helpful for me to have had many years ago.
Back
in those days, yours truly was completing these conversions with the only
computational computing tools available: paper, pencils, erasers, and my brain
processor.
Wolfram|Alpha
will answer how much time remains until a special event, such as a holiday.
At
7:19 a.m. last Wednesday, I queried: “hours until Christmas.”
The
answer given was: 7,656 hours.
Wolfram|Alpha
also neatly broke down this timespan into: months, weeks, and days. We still
have plenty of shopping days (319 as of last Wednesday) until Christmas.
Students
(and adults) learning to code are creating many beneficial software
applications (apps) we use on our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other
smartdevices.
These
coders are taking ideas, and turning them into reality.
“The
Wolfram Demonstrations Project section is an open-code resource that uses
dynamic computation to illuminate concepts in science, technology, mathematics,
art, finance, and a remarkable range of other fields,” said Stephen Wolfram.
This
project section currently has 10,537 interactive project demonstrations.
Within
this section, typing the word “Coding” showed 296 separate coding demonstration
projects.
The
direct link to the Access Demonstrations Projects is:
http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/index.html.
An
excellent introduction of the Wolfram Language programming code, by Stephen
Wolfram, is here: http://tinyurl.com/WolframLang.
Do
you want to know how far the moon or other celestial body is from Earth at the
exact moment you ask?
Last
Tuesday morning at 7:53 a.m., I queried Wolfram|Alpha with; “Current distance
to the moon.”
Its
computing algorithms reported the moon was exactly 227,399 miles away from
Earth.
Interesting
details on how this number was obtained were also provided.
How
about the Gross Domestic Product of Minnesota? Just type “GDP Minnesota” and
you will quickly see the results. For 2014, it was $316.2 billion.
Typing
“GDP Minnesota Wisconsin” showed a side-by-side state comparison.
In
case you’re wondering, Wisconsin’s 2014 GDP was $292.9 billion.
When
Wolfram|Alpha first went online, May 15, 2009; its search engine’s servers
becoming accessible over the Internet. This event was livestreamed on the
Justin TV website.
After
watching the event, I was inspired to write a column about it:
http://tinyurl.com/bytes-05-18-2009.
I
invite you to explore the wealth of information, research and learning
opportunities using the Wolfram|Alpha Computational Knowledge Engine:
http://www.wolframalpha.com.
Wolfram|Alpha’s
Twitter handle is: @Wolfram_Alpha.
Follow
me on Twitter at: @bitsandbytes.
