On 28/05/2011 13:19, Warp wrote:
> Invisible<voi### [at] devnull>  wrote:
>> Ask WA to factorise 40! [i.e., forty factorial] and it can do it in a
>> split second.
>
>    40! is very easy to factorize (using common fast factorization methods
> such as the elliptic curve method) because it has, by its very definition,
> very small factors.
>
>    Now try to make it factorize a number that is the product of two primes
> in the order of magnitude of 40!, and you could wait for the Sun to die
> before it happens.

Nah. Wolfram Alpha gives up after only a few seconds. (Yet another 
reason to spend money on a copy of Mathematica.) But sure, I take your 
point.

*My* point was that geeky, nerdy stuff that nobody actually needs in the 
real world works great in WA, but mundane real-world stuff (like the 
sorts of things they constantly advertise that WA is fantastic for) tend 
to fail miserably.

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