[Ict4devwg] Wolfram Alpha - Computational Knowledge Engine

Fri May 22 17:48:50 BST 2009

Subject: [****] Wolfram Alpha - Computational Knowledge Engine
Date: Fri, 22 May 2009 15:54:47 +1000
From: Reviews of Internet resources for Asian Studies	<asia-www-monitor at anu.edu.au>
To: asia-www-monitor at anu.edu.au

The Asian Studies WWW Monitor:  May 2009, Vol. 16, No. 7 (297)
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21 May 2009

Wolfram Alpha - Computational Knowledge Engine

Wolfram Research, Inc., Champaign, IL, US / Oxfordshire, UK

Self-description:
"Goals -
Wolfram|Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic knowledge
immediately computable and accessible to everyone. We aim to collect
and curate all objective data; implement every known model, method,
and algorithm; and make it possible to compute whatever can be
computed about anything. Our goal is to build on the achievements of
science and other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single
source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive answers to
factual queries.

Wolfram|Alpha [launched May 15, 2009 - ed.] aims to bring
expert-level knowledge and capabilities to the broadest possible
range of people -- spanning all professions and education levels. Our
goal is to accept completely free-form input, and to serve as a
knowledge engine that generates powerful results and presents them
with maximum clarity. Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious, long-term
intellectual endeavor that we intend will deliver increasing
capabilities over the years and decades to come. With a world-class
team and participation from top outside experts in countless fields,
our goal is to create something that will stand as a major milestone
of 21st century intellectual achievement.

Status -
That it should be possible to build Wolfram|Alpha as it exists today
in the first decade of the 21st century was far from obvious. And yet
there is much more to come. As of now, Wolfram|Alpha contains 10+
trillion of pieces of data, 50,000+ types of algorithms and models,
and linguistic capabilities for 1000+ domains. Built with Mathematica
-- which is itself the result of more than 20 years of development at
Wolfram Research -- Wolfram|Alpha's core code base now exceeds 5
million lines of symbolic Mathematica code. [...]

Future -
Wolfram|Alpha, as it exists today, is just the beginning. We have
both short- and long-term plans to dramatically expand all aspects of
Wolfram|Alpha, broadening and deepening our data, our computation,
our linguistics, our presentation, and more. [...]."

Site contents:
* Examples (# Mathematics -- Elementary Math, Numbers, Plotting,
Algebra, Matrices, Calculus, Geometry, Trigonometry, Discrete Math,
Number Theory, Applied Math, Logic, Functions. # Statistics & Data
Analysis -- Data Analysis, Regression, Statistical Distributions,
Probability. # Physics -- Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Optics,
Relativity, Nuclear Physics, Quantum Physics, Particle Physics,
Statistical Physics, Astrophysics, Physical Constants. # Chemistry --
Elements, Compounds, Ions, Quantities, Solutions, Chemical
Thermodynamics. # Materials -- Alloys, Minerals, Plastics, Woods,
Bulk Materials. # Engineering -- Acoustics, Aeronautics, Electric
Circuits, Fluid Mechanics, Steam Tables, Structures. # Astronomy --
Star Charts, Planets, Moons, Minor Planets, Comets, Eclipses, Stars,
Galaxies, Astrophysics. # Earth Sciences -- Geology, Geodesy,
Earthquakes, Tide Data, Standard Atmosphere. # Life Sciences --
Animals & Plants, Dinosaurs, DNA Sequence Lookup, Genes, SNPs,
Proteins. # Technological World -- Communications, Satellites, Space
Probes. # Transportation -- Aircraft, Airports, Bridges, Tunnels. #
Computational Sciences -- Cellular Automata, Fractals, Functional
Programming. # Web & Computer Systems -- Website Data, IP Lookup,
Data Transfer, Port Numbering, String Processing, Hashing, Unicode
Lookup. # Units & Measures -- Conversions, Calculations, Comparisons,
Dimensional Analysis, Industrial Measures, Batteries, Bulk Materials,
Paint. # Money & Finance -- Stock Data, Indices, Mutual Funds,
Mortgages, Present Value, Currency Conversion, Bonds, Derivatives
Valuation, Wages, Sales Tax. # Dates & Times -- Date Computations,
Time Zones, Calendars, Holidays, Geological Time. # Places &
Geography -- Maps, Projections, Geodesy, Navigation, Distances,
Geomagnetism, Geocoding, Countries, Cities, Elevation Data, Oceans,
Lakes, Rivers, Islands, Mountains. # Socioeconomic Data -- Countries,
U.S. States, Cities, Demographics, Economics, Trade, Salaries,
Unemployment. # Weather -- Current & Historical Weather, Forecasts,
Wind Chill, Hurricanes, Clouds, Standard Atmosphere. # Health &
Medicine -- Body Measurements, Growth Charts, Exercise, Diseases,
Mortality Data, Medical Test Data, Vision, Drug Data, Hospitals. #
Food & Nutrition -- Foods, Dietary References. # Words & Linguistics
-- Dictionary Lookup, Anagrams, Word Puzzles, Morse Code, Soundex,
Languages, Number Names. # Culture & Media -- Books, Periodicals,
Movies, Songs, Awards. # People & History -- People, Genealogy,
Names, Occupations, Political Leaders, Historical Dates, Historical
Countries, Historical Numerals, Historical Money. # Education --
Universities, Standardized Tests. # Organizations -- Universities,
Companies, Hospitals, Foundations, International Organizations. #
Sports & Games -- Football, Baseball, Lotteries, Card Games. # Music
-- Musical Notes, Intervals, Chords, Scales, Songs. # Colors -- Color
Names, Color Addition, Color Systems, Temperatures, Wavelengths);
* About;
* FAQS ([...] # Is Wolfram|Alpha a search engine? - No. It's a
computational knowledge engine: it generates output by doing
computations from its own internal knowledge base, instead of
searching the web and returning links.
# Is Wolfram|Alpha free to use? Yes, it's free for personal
noncommercial use as described in its Terms of Use. Subscriptions
will be available in the near future with enhanced features for
large-scale and commercial use.
# Who is Wolfram|Alpha for? Everyone! Its goal is to bring
expert-level knowledge to everybody. [...]);
* Blog [http://blog.wolframalpha.com/];
* Community;
* Downloads (Toolbars,Search Engine Add-ons, etc. etc.);
* More.

URL http://www.wolframalpha.com/

Link reported by: T. Matthew Ciolek (tmciolek--at--coombs.anu.edu.au)

Internet Archive (web.archive.org) [the site was not archived at the
time of this abstract]

* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]:
Documents/Study
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]:
Business
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting -
marginal]:
V. Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000
   - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: over 69,500 external links
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Src: The Asian Studies WWW Monitor ISSN 1329-9778
URL http://coombs.anu.edu.au/asia-www-monitor.html
URL http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/asia-www-monitor
The e-journal [est. 21 Apr 1994] provides free abstracts
and reviews of new/updated online resources of significance to
research, teaching and communications dealing with the Asian Studies.
The email edition of this Journal has now over 8,160 subscribers.
The AS WWW Monitor does not necessarily endorse contents,
or policies of the Internet resources it abstracts.

- regards -

Dr T. Matthew Ciolek      matthew.ciolek--at--anu.edu.au
Head, Internet Publications Bureau, RSPAS,
The National Institute for Asia and the Pacific,
The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
ph +61 (02) 6125 3124  fax: +61 (02) 62571893  skype: tmciolek
also, Asia Pacific Research Online at www.ciolek.com

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