Physics:WolframAlpha

From HandWiki

WolframAlpha[lower-alpha 1] is an online knowledge engine developed by Wolfram Research that has been around since 2009.[1] It is offered as an online service that answers queries by computing answers from externally sourced data.[2][3]

History

Launch preparations for WolframAlpha began on May 15, 2009, at 7:00 pm CDT with a live broadcast on Justin.tv. The plan was to publicly launch the service a few hours later.[4][5] However, there were issues due to extreme load. The service officially launched on May 18, 2009, receiving mixed reviews.[6][7][8]

The engine is based on Wolfram's earlier product Wolfram Mathematica, a technical computing platform.[4] The coding is written in Wolfram Language, a general multi-paradigm programming language, and implemented in Mathematica.[9] WolframAlpha gathers data from academic and commercial websites such as the CIA's The World Factbook, the United States Geological Survey, a Cornell University Library publication called All About Birds, Chambers Biographical Dictionary, Dow Jones, the Catalogue of Life,[1] CrunchBase,[10] Best Buy,[11] and the FAA to answer queries.[12]

On February 8, 2012, WolframAlpha Pro was released,[13] offering users additional features for a monthly subscription fee.[13][14]

Usage

WolframAlpha was used to power some searches in the Microsoft Bing and DuckDuckGo search engines but is no longer used to provide search results.[15][16] For factual question answering, WolframAlpha was used by Apple's Siri in October 2011 and Amazon Alexa in December 2018 for math and science queries.[17][18] Users noticed that the Wolfram Integration for Siri was changed in June 2013 to use Bing to query certain results on iOS 7.[19] Starting with iOS 17, it was reported that Wolfram for Siri no longer answers mathematical equations, instead defaulting to web search queries with no notable explanation.[20][21] WolframAlpha data types[clarification needed], sets of curated information and formulas that assist in creating, categorization, and filling of spreadsheet information, became available in July 2020 within Microsoft Excel.[22] The Microsoft-Wolfram partnership ended nearly two years later, in 2022, in favor of Microsoft Power Query data types.[23] WolframAlpha functionality in Microsoft Excel ended in June 2023.[24][25]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bobbie Johnson (May 21, 2009). "Where does Wolfram Alpha get its information?". The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/may/21/1. 
  2. ↑ "About Wolfram|Alpha: Making the World's Knowledge Computable". http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html. 
  3. ↑ Johnson, Bobbie (March 9, 2009). "British search engine 'could rival Google'". The Guardian (UK: Guardian News and Media). https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/mar/09/search-engine-google. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Wolfram|Alpha Launch Team (May 8, 2009). "So Much for A Quiet Launch". Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. https://blog.wolframalpha.com/2009/05/08/so-much-for-a-quiet-launch/. 
  5. ↑ "Wolfram 'search engine' goes live". BBC News. May 18, 2009. https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8052798.stm. 
  6. ↑ The Wolfram|Alpha Launch Team (May 12, 2009). "Going Live—and Webcasting It". Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. https://blog.wolframalpha.com/2009/05/12/going-live-and-webcasting-it/. 
  7. ↑ Spivack, Nova (March 7, 2009). "Wolfram Alpha is Coming – and It Could be as Important as Google". Nova Spivack – Minding the Planet. http://www.novaspivack.com/uncategorized/wolfram-alpha-is-coming-and-it-could-be-as-important-as-google. 
  8. ↑ Singel, Ryan (May 18, 2009). "Wolfram|Alpha Fails the Cool Test". Wired. https://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/05/wolframalpha-fails-the-cool-test/. 
  9. ↑ "TIOBE Index" (in en-US). https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/. 
  10. ↑ Dillet, Romain (September 7, 2012). "Wolfram Alpha Makes CrunchBase Data Computable Just In Time For Disrupt SF". TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2012/09/07/wolfram-alpha-makes-crunchbase-data-computable-just-in-time-for-disrupt/. 
  11. ↑ Golson, Jordan (December 16, 2011). "Wolfram Delivers Siri-Enabled Shopping Results From Best Buy". MacRumors. https://www.macrumors.com/2011/12/16/wolfram-delivers-siri-enabled-shopping-results-from-best-buy/. 
  12. ↑ Barylick, Chris (November 19, 2011). "Wolfram Alpha search engine now tracks flight paths, trajectory information". Engadget. https://www.engadget.com/2011/11/19/wolfram-alpha-search-engine-now-tracks-flight-paths-trajectory/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Wolfram, Stephen (February 8, 2012). "Announcing Wolfram|Alpha Pro". Wolfram|Alpha Blog (Wolfram Alpha). https://blog.wolframalpha.com/2012/02/08/announcing-wolframalpha-pro/. 
  14. ↑ "Step-by-Step Math". https://blog.wolframalpha.com/2009/12/01/step-by-step-math/. 
  15. ↑ Krazit, Tom (August 21, 2009). "Bing strikes licensing deal with Wolfram Alpha". CNET. http://news.cnet.com/8301-30684_3-10315117-265.html. 
  16. ↑ The Wolfram|Alpha Team (April 18, 2011). "Wolfram|Alpha and DuckDuckGo Partner on API Binding and Search Integration". Wolfram|Alpha Blog. Wolfram Alpha. https://blog.wolframalpha.com/2011/04/18/wolframalpha-and-duckduckgo-partner-on-api-binding-and-search-integration/. 
  17. ↑ "Siri brings nearly 25 percent of Wolfram Alpha traffic" (in en). https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/siri-brings-nearly-25-percent-of-wolfram-alpha-traffic/. 
  18. ↑ Iribarren, Maddie (December 27, 2018). "Wolfram Alpha Makes Alexa Smarter" (in en-US). https://voicebot.ai/2018/12/27/wolfram-alpha-makes-alexa-smarter/. 
  19. ↑ "Siri getting "dumber" (Wolfram|Alpha integration removed in iOS 7?)" (in en-US). June 16, 2013. https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/siri-getting-dumber-wolfram-alpha-integration-removed-in-ios-7.1597610/. 
  20. ↑ I-g_n-i_s (November 24, 2023). "Why does Siri no longer do math from Wolfram Alpha as of iOS 17.1.1?". http://www.reddit.com/r/Siri/comments/1830mar/why_does_siri_no_longer_do_math_from_wolfram/. 
  21. ↑ "Why does Siri no longer display Wolfgrama… - Apple Community". https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254393061?sortBy=best. 
  22. ↑ "Wolfram Data Intelligence: New in Microsoft". https://www.wolfram.com/microsoft-integration/excel/. 
  23. ↑ "Excel Data Types with Wolfram End of Support FAQ". https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/excel-data-types-with-wolfram-end-of-support-faq-9ac0876c-b8cb-4c8e-bed6-207d0d675bfe. 
  24. ↑ "Microsoft is killing Money in Excel along with Wolfram Alpha data types" (in en-US). May 31, 2022. https://www.xda-developers.com/microsoft-killing-money-excel-wolfram-alpha-data-types/. 
  25. ↑ "Three Microsoft 365 features have disappeared". July 13, 2023. https://office-watch.com/2023/microsoft-365-features-disappear/. 

Footnotes

  1. ↑ /ˈwʊlf.rəm/, WUULF-rəm
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