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Wolfram Alpha
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Wolfram Alpha (also styled WolframAlpha and
Main page Wolfram Alpha
Contents
Wolfram|Alpha) is a computational knowledge
Featured content engine[5] or answer engine developed by Wolfram
Current events Research, which was founded by Stephen
Random article Wolfram. It is an online service that answers factual Type of site Answer engine
Donate to Wikipedia
Wikipedia store queries directly by computing the answer from Owner Wolfram Alpha LLC
externally sourced "curated data",[6] rather than Created by Wolfram Research
Interaction
Help providing a list of documents or web pages that Slogan(s) Making the world’s knowledge
About Wikipedia might contain the answer as a search engine computable.[1]
Community portal might.[7] Website www.wolframalpha.com .
Recent changes
Alexa rank 2,339 (February 2017)[2]
Contact page Wolfram Alpha, which was released on May 18,
2009, is based on Wolfram's earlier flagship Commercial Yes
Tools
What links here product Wolfram Mathematica, a computational Registration Optional
Related changes May 18, 2009; 7 years ago[3]
platform or toolkit that encompasses computer Launched
Upload file
algebra, symbolic and numerical computation, (official launch)
Special pages May 15, 2009[4] (public
Permanent link [3]
visualization, and statistics capabilities. Additional
Page information launch)
data is gathered from both academic and
Wikidata item Current status Active
commercial websites such as the CIA's The World
Cite this page Written in Wolfram Language
Factbook, the United States Geological Survey, a
Print/export
Create a book Cornell University Library publication called All
Download as PDF About Birds, Chambers Biographical Dictionary, Dow Jones, the Catalogue of Life,[5]
Printable version CrunchBase,[8] Best Buy,[9] the FAA[10] and optionally a user's Facebook account.
In other projects
Wikimedia Contents
 [hide] 
Commons
1 Overview
Languages 2 Technology
‫العربية‬
Беларуская 3 Licensing partners
Български 4 History
Čeština 5 Wolfram Alpha Pro
Dansk 6 Copyright claims
Deutsch
7 See also
Español
‫فارسی‬ 8 References
Français 9 Further reading
Galego 10 External links
한국어
हिनद
Hrvatski
Bahasa Indonesia
Overview [ edit ]
Italiano Users submit queries and computation requests via a text field. Wolfram Alpha then computes
‫עברית‬ answers and relevant visualizations from a knowledge base of curated, structured data that
ລາວ
Bahasa Melayu come from other sites and books. The site "use[s] a portfolio of automated and manual
Nederlands methods, including statistics, visualization, source cross-checking, and expert review."[11] The
日本語 curated data makes Alpha different from semantic search engines, which index a large number
Norsk nynorsk
of answers and then try to match the question to one.
Polski

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Português Wolfram Alpha can only provide robust query results based on computational facts, not queries
Română on the social sciences, cultural studies or even many questions about history where responses
Русский
require more subtlety and complexity. It is able to respond to particularly-phrased natural
Slovenčina
Slovenščina language fact-based questions such as "Where was Mary Robinson born?" or more complex
Српски / srpski questions such as "How old was Queen Elizabeth II in 1974?" It displays its "Input
Suomi interpretation" of such a question, using standardized phrases such as "age | of Queen
Svenska
தமழ் Elizabeth II (royalty) | in 1974", the answer of which is "Age at start of 1974: 47 years", and a
Türkçe biography link. Wolfram Alpha does not answer queries which require a narrative response
Українська such as "What is the difference between the Julian and the Gregorian calendars?" but will
Tiếng Việt answer factual or computational questions such as "June 1 in Julian calendar".
中文
Edit links Mathematical symbolism can be parsed by the engine, which typically responds with more than
the numerical results. For example, "lim(x->0) (sin x)/x" yields the correct limiting value of 1, as
well as a plot, up to 235 terms (as of 2013) of the Taylor series, and (for registered users) a
possible derivation using L'Hôpital's rule. It is also able to perform calculations on data using
more than one source. For example, "What is the fifty-second smallest country by GDP per
capita?" yields Nicaragua, $1160 per year.

Technology [ edit ]
Wolfram Alpha is written in 15 million lines of Wolfram Language code[12] and runs on more
than 10,000 CPUs.[13][14] The database currently includes hundreds of datasets, such as "All
Current and Historical Weather." The datasets have been accumulated over several years.[15]
The curated (as distinct from auto-generated) datasets are checked for quality either by a
scientist or other expert in a relevant field, or someone acting in a clerical capacity who simply
verifies that the datasets are "acceptable".[16][unreliable source?]
One example of a live dataset that Wolfram Alpha can use is the profile of a Facebook user,
through inputting the "facebook report" query. If the user authorizes Facebook to share his or
her account details with the Wolfram site, Alpha can generate a "personal analytics" report
containing the age distribution of friends, the frequency of words used in status updates and
other detailed information.[17] Within two weeks of launching the Facebook analytics service,
400,000 users had used it.[18] Downloadable query results are behind a pay wall but summaries
are accessible to free accounts.[19]

Licensing partners [ edit ]

Wolfram Alpha has been used to power some searches in the Microsoft Bing and DuckDuckGo
search engines.[20][21] For factual question answering, it is also queried by Apple's Siri,
Samsung's S Voice, as well as Dexetra's speech recognition software for the Android platform,
Iris, and the voice control software on BlackBerry 10.[22]

History [ edit ]
Launch preparations began on May 15, 2009 at 7 pm CDT and were broadcast live on Justin.tv.
The plan was to publicly launch the service a few hours later, with expected issues due to
extreme load. The service was officially launched on May 18, 2009.[23]
Wolfram Alpha has received mixed reviews.[24][25] Wolfram Alpha advocates point to its
potential, some even stating that how it determines results is more important than current
usefulness.[24]
On December 3, 2009, an iPhone app was introduced. Some users[26] considered the initial $50
price of the iOS app unnecessarily high, since the same features could be freely accessed by
using a web browser instead. They also complained about the simultaneous removal of the
mobile formatting option for the site.[27] Wolfram responded by lowering the price to $2, offering
a refund to existing customers[28] and re-instating the mobile site.

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Wolfram Alpha - Wikipedia

On October 6, 2010 an Android version of the app was released[29] and it is now available for
Kindle Fire and Nook. (The Nook version is not available outside the US). A further 71 apps are
available which use the Wolfram Alpha engine for specialized tasks.[30]

Wolfram Alpha Pro [ edit ]

On February 8, 2012, Wolfram Alpha Pro was released,[31] offering users additional features for
a monthly subscription fee. A key feature is the ability to upload many common file types and
data—including raw tabular data, images, audio, XML, and dozens of specialized scientific,
medical, and mathematical formats—for automatic analysis. Other features include an extended
keyboard, interactivity with CDF, data downloads, in-depth step by step solution, the ability to
customize and save graphical and tabular results[32] and extra computation time.[31]
Along with new premium features, Wolfram Alpha Pro has led to some changes in the free
version of the site:
An increase in advertisements on the free site.
Text and PDF export options now require the user to set up a free account[31] even though
they existed before the introduction of Wolfram Alpha accounts.[33]
The option to request extra time for a long calculation used to be free[34] but is now only
available to subscribers.[31]
Step-by-Step limited to 3 for free users (previously uncapped)(no longer available).[35]

Copyright claims [ edit ]

InfoWorld published an article[36] warning readers of the potential implications of giving an

automated website proprietary rights to the data it generates. Free software advocate Richard
Stallman also opposes the idea of recognizing the site as a copyright holder and suspects that
Wolfram would not be able to make this case under existing copyright law.[37]

See also [ edit ]

Commonsense knowledge problem
Strong AI
Watson (computer)

References [ edit ]
1. ^ Wolfram Alpha About page
2. ^ "Wolframalpha.com Site Info" . Alexa Internet. Retrieved 2017-02-05.
3. ^ a b The Wolfram|Alpha Launch Team (May 8, 2009). "So Much for A Quiet Launch" .
Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
4. ^ The Wolfram|Alpha Launch Team (May 12, 2009). "Going Live—and Webcasting It" .
Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
5. ^ a b Bobbie Johnson (May 21, 2009). "Where does Wolfram Alpha get its information?" . The
Guardian. Retrieved 2013-03-08.
6. ^ "About Wolfram|Alpha: Making the World's Knowledge Computable" . wolframalpha.com.
Retrieved 2015-11-25.
7. ^ Johnson, Bobbie (March 9, 2009). "British search engine 'could rival Google' " . The Guardian.
UK: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
8. ^ Dillet, Romain (September 7, 2012). "Wolfram Alpha Makes CrunchBase Data Computable
Just In Time For Disrupt SF" . TechCrunch. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
9. ^ Golson, Jordan (December 16, 2011). "Wolfram Delivers Siri-Enabled Shopping Results From
Best Buy" . MacRumors. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
10. ^ Barylick, Chris (November 19, 2011). "Wolfram Alpha search engine now tracks flight paths,
trajectory information" . Engadget. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
11. ^ "Data in Wolfram|Alpha" . Wolfram Alpha. Retrieved 4 August 2015.
12. ^ WolframResearch (October 10, 2011).

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Wolfram Alpha - Wikipedia

"Stephen Wolfram: The Background and Vision of

Mathematica" . Youtube.com. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
13. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (April 25, 2009). "Wolfram|Alpha: Our First Impressions" . ReadWriteWeb.
Retrieved 2013-02-09.
14. ^ Wolfram, Stephen (May 15, 2009). "Wolfram|Alpha Is Launching: Made Possible by
Mathematica" . WolframAlpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
15. ^ Ozimek, Jane Fae (May 18, 2009). "Taking a first bite out of Wolfram Alpha" . The Register.
Retrieved 2013-02-09.
16. ^ Jack Krupansky (2009). "The Semantic Abyss - Plumbing the Semantic Web: Exploring the
depths of the semantic gap between the Semantic Web and real world users and consumers" .
17. ^ Weber, Thomas E. (September 5, 2012). "Wolfram Alpha's Facebook Analytics Tool Digs Deep
into Your Social Life" . Tech. Time Magazine. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
18. ^ R., A. (September 21, 2012). "Visualising Facebook Who am I?" . Graphic detail. The
Economist. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
19. ^ Joanna Nelson (March 4, 2013). "A Wolf or a Ram? What is Wolfram Alpha?" . Public
Libraries Online.
20. ^ Krazit, Tom (August 21, 2009). "Bing strikes licensing deal with Wolfram Alpha" . CNET.
Retrieved 2013-02-09.
21. ^ The Wolfram|Alpha Team (April 18, 2011). "Wolfram|Alpha and DuckDuckGo Partner on API
Binding and Search Integration" . Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
22. ^ "BlackBerry Teams Up with Wolfram Alpha For BlackBerry 10 Voice Control" . BerryReview.
23. ^ "Wolfram 'search engine' goes live" . BBC News. May 18, 2009. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
24. ^ a b Spivack, Nova (March 7, 2009). "Wolfram Alpha is Coming – and It Could be as Important
as Google" . Nova Spivack – Minding the Planet. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
25. ^ Singel, Ryan (May 18, 2009). "Wolfram|Alpha Fails the Cool Test" . Wired. Retrieved
2013-02-09.
26. ^ Siegler, MG (December 3, 2009). "Nice Try, Wolfram Alpha. Still Not Paying $50 For Your
App." . TechCrunch. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
27. ^ Luoma, TJ (December 3, 2009). "WolframAlpha iPhone-formatted web page no longer
available" . TUAW. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
28. ^ Broida, Rick (April 1, 2010). "Get Wolfram Alpha app for $1.99-and a refund if you paid
more" . CNET. Retrieved 2012-02-28.
29. ^ Rao, Leena (October 6, 2010). "Wolfram Alpha's Android app now available" . TechCrunch.
Retrieved 2013-02-09.
30. ^ "Wolfram|Alpha: Mobile & Tablet Apps" . Wolfram Alpha. 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
31. ^ a b c d Wolfram, Stephen (February 8, 2012). "Announcing Wolfram|Alpha Pro" .
Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. Retrieved 2013-02-09.
32. ^ Hachman, Mark (February 7, 2012). "Data Geeks, Meet Wolfram Alpha Pro" . PC Magazine.
Retrieved 2012-02-15.
33. ^ Orca, Surfdaddy (2009-06-24). "A User's Guide to Wolfram Alpha" . H+ Magazine. Retrieved
2013-04-24.
34. ^ Marlowe, James (2011). "Wolfram Alpha Usability Test Survey" . Retrieved 2013-04-24.
35. ^ "Step-by-Step Math" .
36. ^ McAllister, Neil (July 29, 2009). "How Wolfram Alpha could change software" . InfoWorld.
Retrieved 2012-02-28.
37. ^ Stallman, Richard (August 4, 2009). "How Wolfram Alpha's Copyright Claims Could Change
Software" . Access 2 Knowledge (Mailing list). Archived from the original on April 28, 2013.
Retrieved 2012-02-17. External link in |mailinglist= (help)

Further reading [ edit ]

Wolfram Alpha: A New Way To Search? , Stephen Wildstrom, BusinessWeek, March 9,
2009.
Stephen Wolfram's Answer To Google: If Wolfram/Alpha works as advertised, it will be able
to do something Google can't: provide answers that don't already exist in indexed
documents. by Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek, March 10, 2009.
Better Search Doesn’t Mean Beating Google by Saul Hansell, The New York Times, March
9, 2009.

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Wolfram Alpha - Wikipedia

Wolfram Alpha will Take Your Questions – Any Questions , Ian Paul, PC World, March 9,
2009.
Wolfram Alpha: Searching for Truth: Stephen Wolfram talks with Rudy Rucker about his
Upcoming Release by Rudy Rucker, H+ Magazine.
"A hungry little number cruncher: Wolfram Alpha search tool mines databases to yield math-
based replies" by Hiawatha Bray, The Boston Globe, May 5, 2009
"Wolfram Alpha: Semantic Search is Born" by Woody Evans, May 21, 2009.

External links [ edit ]

Official website

v·t·e Wolfram Research [hide]

Computable Document Format · Mathematica · GridMathematica · MathWorld · Wolfram Alpha
Products · Wolfram Demonstrations Project · Wolfram Language · Wolfram SystemModeler

People Stephen Wolfram · Conrad Wolfram · Theodore Gray · Eric Weisstein · Ed Pegg Jr.

v·t·e Computable knowledge [show]

v·t·e Intelligent personal assistant software [show]

Categories: Agent-based software Computer algebra systems Educational math software

Educational websites Information retrieval systems Intelligent software assistants
Internet properties established in 2009 Mathematics education
Natural language processing software Open educational resources Physics education
Semantic Web Software calculators Web analytics Websites which mirror Wikipedia
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