Keefer Madness

Wolfram Alpha – Computational Knowledge Engine

// May 22nd, 2009 // Computers, Internet / Web

Wolfram Alpha has hit the geek community by storm. I’ve been hearing about it on a bunch of the podcasts I listen to every week – DiggNation and This Week in Tech. Anyway, the Wolfram Alpha computational knowledge engine is not a Google competitor, like some of the mainstream media, instead it’s a way to get statistics at your fingertips. I think it’s somehow using the mathematical powerhouse application, Mathmatica. I’ve only played around with it for only a few minutes but a few things to try with it:

First name — This will give you some stats on the popularity of your name, estimations on ages and totals of your name in the U.S. currently, etc.
Ex. Ryan

City Stats — Stats on population, current weather conditions, close larger cities, etc.
Ex. Durham, NC

Dates — You can get stats on how long ago a date was, notable events on that date, U.S holidays, sunrise and sunset, etc.

Ex. October 29, 1977 (My birthday)

Stock Comparisons — See where two stocks are trading currently, fundamentals and financials, etc.

Ex. Google VS. Yahoo! Stocks

These examples obviously only scratch the surface, but it seems like the whole thing can be a pretty powerful statistical research tool.