Traditional search engines search for the 'search phrase' or a combination there of and present the results. Computational search engine uses the knowledge it has indexed and calculates what the user wants.
Computational Search is fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers—
not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods.
Wolfram Alpha operates as follows:
- Linguistic analysis - new kinds of algorithms for 1000+ domains
- Curated data - 10+ trillion pieces of data from primary sources with continuous updating
- Dynamic computation - 50,000+ types of algorithms & equations
- Computed presentation - 5,000+ types of visual and tabular output
Wolfram Alpha in Action
- Searching for "10 M&Ms" will present you with the nutrition information. As you can see this information was dynamically computed just for you on demand.
2. You can compare the population trends of California, Texas and country of France. The search phrase used was "population history California, Texas, France"
3. You can do your research for your fantasy football. You want to find out "NFL teams with more than 15 rushing touchdowns and more than 20 passing touchdowns in 2011"
4. Finally, if you are lost - then you can ask 'Where am I' ? You will be presented with details about your IP address, geo-location etc.
Conclusion
This blog merely scraped the surface of possibilities. Please use WolframAlpha search engine and learn its numerous other uses.
Computational Search is a very powerful concept and WolframAlpha is just one implementation of this concept. The future should see many more advances in this area.
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