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From: Invisible
Subject: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 23 Jun 2009 08:57:10
Message: <4a40d126$1@news.povray.org>
OK, so short of actually buying Mathematica itself, this is just about 
the best nerd toy ever.

But can you actually do anything remotely "useful" with it?

[For the purposes of this argument, doing your school homework for you 
is not deemed "useful". ;-) ]


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From: scott
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 23 Jun 2009 09:43:27
Message: <4a40dbff@news.povray.org>
> But can you actually do anything remotely "useful" with it?

"weather in X and Y", where X and Y are cities is pretty cool, might be 
useful if you are considering moving or planning a holiday somewhere.


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 23 Jun 2009 09:52:23
Message: <4a40de17$1@news.povray.org>
scott wrote:
>> But can you actually do anything remotely "useful" with it?
> 
> "weather in X and Y", where X and Y are cities is pretty cool, might be 
> useful if you are considering moving or planning a holiday somewhere.

Yeah, that's true.

It does currency conversions too. (Google does this also, but Alpha 
gives you a history graph and some other data - useful or not, you decide.)

Also does unit conversions. (Which Google has done for ages.)

Actually, I'll tell you what it does do: Enter a DNS name or an IP 
address, and it tells you useful stuff about it. (Other websites try to 
charge you money for this priviledge...)


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 26 Jun 2009 01:51:37
Message: <4a4461e9$1@news.povray.org>
On Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:57:10 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> But can you actually do anything remotely "useful" with it?

Add up calories for a recipe.  :-)

Jim


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From: Invisible
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 26 Jun 2009 04:04:02
Message: <4a4480f2@news.povray.org>
>> But can you actually do anything remotely "useful" with it?
> 
> Add up calories for a recipe.  :-)

Yes... Easier than it sounds.

- If you ask about "cheese", it defaults to wind weird variety that 
nobody has ever heard of. Gotta specify "cheddar" specifically.

- If you ask about "cheddar, toast", it tells you the distance fro 
Cheddar, UK to Toast, USA. (WHY do you have a place named Toast?!)

- It seems Alpha doesn't know what "toast" is. But it knows about 
"bread", and one of the kinds of bread you can select is "wheat, 
toasted". Go figure.

So there we are. Apparently the default serving sizes of cheddar + toast 
gives me 33% of my RDA for saturated fat. I wonder what the hell that 
default serving size actually equates to, if anything...


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From: Darren New
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 26 Jun 2009 11:58:09
Message: <4a44f011$1@news.povray.org>
Invisible wrote:
> (WHY do you have a place named Toast?!)

Probably the same reason your side has cities named things like "Bear".

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.


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From: Jim Henderson
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 26 Jun 2009 22:43:43
Message: <4a45875f$1@news.povray.org>
On Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:04:00 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> But can you actually do anything remotely "useful" with it?
>> 
>> Add up calories for a recipe.  :-)
> 
> Yes... Easier than it sounds.
> 
> - If you ask about "cheese", it defaults to wind weird variety that
> nobody has ever heard of. Gotta specify "cheddar" specifically.

For me it says "any type" - what do you get?

> - If you ask about "cheddar, toast", it tells you the distance fro
> Cheddar, UK to Toast, USA. (WHY do you have a place named Toast?!)

Same reason you have a place named after a sauce. (Worchestershire) ;-)

Or perhaps maybe the same reason we have a place called "Hell".  Really.

> - It seems Alpha doesn't know what "toast" is. But it knows about
> "bread", and one of the kinds of bread you can select is "wheat,
> toasted". Go figure.
> 
> So there we are. Apparently the default serving sizes of cheddar + toast
> gives me 33% of my RDA for saturated fat. I wonder what the hell that
> default serving size actually equates to, if anything...

:-)

Jim


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From: Stephen
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 28 Jun 2009 04:43:35
Message: <69be451cf197er7acqhh28he832ulgfob2@4ax.com>
On 26 Jun 2009 22:43:43 -0400, Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:

>
>Same reason you have a place named after a sauce. (Worchestershire) ;-)

<Groan>
-- 

Regards
     Stephen


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 28 Jun 2009 04:50:22
Message: <4a472ece$1@news.povray.org>
>> (WHY do you have a place named Toast?!)
> 
> Probably the same reason your side has cities named things like "Bear".

That's news...

...although we do have a country named "Wales".

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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From: Orchid XP v8
Subject: Re: Wolfram Alpha
Date: 28 Jun 2009 04:51:11
Message: <4a472eff$1@news.povray.org>
Jim Henderson wrote:

> Same reason you have a place named after a sauce. (Worchestershire) ;-)

Other way round. :-P

> Or perhaps maybe the same reason we have a place called "Hell".  Really.

I live about 11 miles from Hellidon...

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*


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