If ever there was a case of a product living-up perfectly to its tagline, then Wolfram Alpha is surely it.
The text next to the WA logo reads "computational knowledge engine" which sounds like a rather dry, heavy program built by a guy with odd glasses and questionable social skills. And that's actually not too far from the truth.
Strip away the geek jargon and what you have is a product that's essentially an answers engine, not a search engine. Search engines - like Google - return a list of relevant web sites that may help you find what you're looking for. Knowledge engines - like Wofram Alpha - don't return any web pages but instead return actual data and information that it thinks you are looking for.
So search for any town name on Google - let's say Maplewood, NJ - and you'll see a list of results that include links to the official town site, a community site and also an entry for the town name in Wikipedia - plus hundreds of other sites that may or may not be relevant. Perform the same search using Wolfram Alpha and you'll be returned the population size of Maplewood, its weather forecast, location, nearby cities and other facts that may be relevant.
So if you perform a lot of searches that involve finding data Wolfram Alpha will be a vital tool in your arsenal. But for most average joe publics - searching for things like "Miss California, scandalous photographs" or "American Idol" Wolfram Alpha will be all but useless.
Check out the video above for a full walk-through and check out this clip from the Wolfram Alpha creator explaining his invention.
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