Cookies help us display personalized product recommendations and ensure you have great shopping experience.

By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
  • Analytics
    AnalyticsShow More
    image fx (67)
    Improving LinkedIn Ad Strategies with Data Analytics
    9 Min Read
    big data and remote work
    Data Helps Speech-Language Pathologists Deliver Better Results
    6 Min Read
    data driven insights
    How Data-Driven Insights Are Addressing Gaps in Patient Communication and Equity
    8 Min Read
    pexels pavel danilyuk 8112119
    Data Analytics Is Revolutionizing Medical Credentialing
    8 Min Read
    data and seo
    Maximize SEO Success with Powerful Data Analytics Insights
    8 Min Read
  • Big Data
  • BI
  • Exclusive
  • IT
  • Marketing
  • Software
Search
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Wolfram Alpha Revisited
Share
Notification
Font ResizerAa
SmartData CollectiveSmartData Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
  • About
  • Help
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-23 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
SmartData Collective > Big Data > Data Mining > Wolfram Alpha Revisited
Data MiningPredictive Analytics

Wolfram Alpha Revisited

Steve Bennett
Steve Bennett
7 Min Read
SHARE

Back in May of this year I took a look at WolframAlpha in my blog Is WolframAlpha The Next Big Thing In Analytics? Since Wolfram’s high profile (rock star) launch things had died down to a muted whisper – not a bad thing as anything as ambitious as Wolfram needs time to mature.

For those not familiar with Wolfram|Alpha, here is a summary of its features from the company itself:

More Read

Early Indications October 2010: The Analytics Moment: Getting numbers to tell stories
Introducing the Knowledge Worker [VIDEO]
How ICD-10 Will Unlock a New Market for Data Analysis
Using Big Data to Track and Measure Emotion
Past, Present, and Future of Predictive Analytics: Our Analysis & Findings

200911Wolfram_UI

 That has changed in the last couple of weeks or so as a number of interesting things have happened:

  • Microsoft’s search engine Bing will soon feature results from Wolfram|Alpha. More specifically it will use Wolfram to power certain queries about math, health and nutrition. An oft-quoted example is of Bing users who want to compare the nutritional value of a banana versus an orange will get a computed answer piped in from Wolfram|Alpha.
  •  Wolfram|Alpha just released a AU$60 iPhone app that has proven unexpectedly popular.
  • 3 weeks ago the company announced the Wolfram|Alpha API. Microsoft’s Bing decision engine is one of the first API customers.
  • Google is moving to counter Wolfram’s capabilities. One example is Google’s announcement that it now uses public data from the World …



Back in May of this year I took a look at WolframAlpha in my blog Is WolframAlpha The Next Big Thing In Analytics? Since Wolfram’s high profile (rock star) launch things had died down to a muted whisper – not a bad thing as anything as ambitious as Wolfram needs time to mature.

For those not familiar with Wolfram|Alpha, here is a summary of its features from the company itself:

200911Wolfram_UI

 That has changed in the last couple of weeks or so as a number of interesting things have happened:

  • Microsoft’s search engine Bing will soon feature results from Wolfram|Alpha. More specifically it will use Wolfram to power certain queries about math, health and nutrition. An oft-quoted example is of Bing users who want to compare the nutritional value of a banana versus an orange will get a computed answer piped in from Wolfram|Alpha.
  • 200911Wolfram_iPhoneM Wolfram|Alpha just released a AU$60 iPhone app that has proven unexpectedly popular.
  • 3 weeks ago the company announced the Wolfram|Alpha API. Microsoft’s Bing decision engine is one of the first API customers.
  • Google is moving to counter Wolfram’s capabilities. One example is Google’s announcement that it now uses public data from the World Bank to display graphs for queries like “internet users in Australia.” To do this Google makes uses of the World Bank’s public API. 

Earlier this year, Google also added to its search results pages data from other public data sources such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau’s Population Division. They have also launched a webpage asking to hear from data publishers who are interested in making their data discoverable in Google:

Tell us about your organization’s public data

Does your organization produce statistical information or other public data that you would like to make more accessible and easier to use? If so, please tell us about your organization and the data you now make publicly available or would like to make available, including details about its format.

Your data will be useful to us as we continue to develop tools we would like to offer to organizations like yours. While we won’t be able to individually reply to everyone who fills out this form, we may be in touch to learn more about your data.

For more information on how public data will be used or accessed through Google, read our information for data publishers.

Ready to tell us about your organization’s data? First select your organization type:

  • Government
  • Education and research
  • Non-profit
  • Commercial

Here’s an example search result using World Bank data:

20091112 Google World Bank data

Both Google and Wolfram are trying to change search into answer. This is a pretty exciting development and I look forward to Microsoft (Wolfram soon to be a subsidiary?) and Google battling it out to answer more of my analytic questions.

As of today, Wolfram has the edge in terms of its ability to answer a surprisingly wide range of questions. Examples include:

  • integrate x sin x log x
  • $200K mortgage at 7% for 30 years
  • words containing mpg
  • 100 AUD to euro
  • weather in Sydney when Obama was born
  • 4th largest female population in Europe
  • MSFT vs. Apple vs. IBM (stocks)
  • mother’s sister’s uncle
  • 140.177.20.10 (IP addresses)
  • 1-5795-5008-8 (barcodes)
  • soybeans future (financial markets)

Wolfram domains include:

  • Mathematics
  • Statistics & Data Analysis
  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Materials
  • Engineering
  • Astronomy
  • Earth Sciences
  • Life Sciences
  • Technological World
  • Transportation
  • Computational Sciences
  • Web & Computer Systems
  • Units & Measures
  • Money & Finance
  • Dates & Times
  • Places & Geography
  • Socioeconomic Data
  • Weather
  • Health & Medicine
  • Food & Nutrition
  • Words & Linguistics
  • Culture & Media
  • People & History
  • Education
  • Organisations
  • Sports & Games
  • Music
  • Colours

Google, however, still has the edge in terms of flexibility in mining a vastly wider number of textual sources. Google’s data mining (and answering) ambitions seem more modest when compared to Wolfram, but I suspect that the Bing announcement has driven Google Labs into overdrive. Expect more announcements over the coming year.

If you want to smile, then check out either this piece from the Australian newspaper or this article from epicentre on the ‘iPhone app for Rain Man’.

Link to original post

TAGGED:binggooglesearch engines
Share This Article
Facebook Pinterest LinkedIn
Share

Follow us on Facebook

Latest News

power supplies for ATX for data scientists
Why Data Scientists Should Care About SFX Power Supplies
Big Data Exclusive
AI for website optimization
Free Tools to Test Website Accessibility
Artificial Intelligence Exclusive
Generative AI models
Thinking Machines At Work: How Generative AI Models Are Redefining Business Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence Business Intelligence Exclusive Infographic Machine Learning
image fx (2)
Monitoring Data Without Turning into Big Brother
Big Data Exclusive

Stay Connected

1.2kFollowersLike
33.7kFollowersFollow
222FollowersPin

You Might also Like

agile framework
AnalyticsBig DataBusiness IntelligenceData ManagementInside CompaniesWeb Analytics

Metric-Driven Agile for Big Data

5 Min Read

Google Surprise: A change in intent regarding China

5 Min Read

Week 1 at Google: Information Overload!

2 Min Read

Enhanced Google Analytics: Firefox Plugin

6 Min Read

SmartData Collective is one of the largest & trusted community covering technical content about Big Data, BI, Cloud, Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT & more.

ai in ecommerce
Artificial Intelligence for eCommerce: A Closer Look
Artificial Intelligence
data-driven web design
5 Great Tips for Using Data Analytics for Website UX
Big Data

Quick Link

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Follow US
© 2008-25 SmartData Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Go to mobile version
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?