Friday, January 21, 2011

Wolphram Alpha, Your Expert Assistant

Are you tired of researching a topic using Google, which returns thousands of documents and websites that may or may not have the (correct) information you need?  If so, you will want to check out Wolphram Alpha, an online system for computing answers to questions.   Your questions are answered with words, data, charts, graphs, and images.  What is the difference between a search engine like Google and Wolphram Alpha? 

Google = finding information that has been published online.  

Wolphram Alpha = answering questions about what people know collectively.  It’s like having an expert assistant nearby.  And yes, there's an app for that.

You have to try it to believe it!  http://www.wolframalpha.com/. See what happens when you enter text such as:

  • Weather in Walled Lake, Michigan

  • 1/6 + 5/12 + 3/4

  • Life expectancy

  • Carbon

  • Polar Bear

  • 10 M&Ms


Added February 6, 2011:  This post is part of an Ed Tech Blog Carnival, organized by Danny Nicholson, a UK educator.  Lots of interesting topics were submitted.
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2 comments:

  1. Mark HessJanuary 21, 2011 at 3:12 PM

    This is great! Thanks for passing along this excellent resource. I can see students using this instead of Google to retrieve information. I typed in 'Detroit Tigers' and 'Michigan.' Lots of data, facts, and interesting information appears.

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  2. DannyFebruary 6, 2011 at 7:11 AM

    thanks for the Blog Carnival submission. All the other posts in the carnival are here :
    http://www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/2011/01/the-inaugral-ed-tech-blog-carnival/
    Please can you put a link back to the carnival in your post? thanks!

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