This document provides an overview of Wolfram Alpha, an online answer engine that computes answers to factual queries from its structured data rather than providing web search results. It discusses Wolfram Alpha's history of development since 2002, its goal to make all systematic knowledge computable, and how it works by using built-in models and algorithms to compute answers from its knowledge base. The document also summarizes some of Wolfram Alpha's key features and limitations, as well as its Pro subscription version which provides additional functionalities like data analysis.

1. Rajasthan College of Engineering for Women
By:-
SUBITH BABU
(10ERWCS108)
To:-
Ankita Agarwal
(Asst. professor)

2. CONTENTS
 Introduction
 History
 How does Wolfram Alpha work
 Working
 Alpha has 4 components
 Features
 Technology
 Wolfram Alpha Pro
 Conclusion
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WOLFRAM ALPHA

3. INTRODUCTION
 Wolfram Alpha is an answer engine developed by
Wolfram Research.
 It is an online service that answers factual queries directly
by computing the answer from structured data, rather than
providing a list of documents or web pages that might
contain the answer as a search engine might.
 It was announced in March 2009 by Stephen Wolfram,
and was released to the public on May 15, 2009.
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

4. Contd…
 Wolfram Alpha's long-term goal is to make all systematic
knowledge immediately computable and accessible to
everyone.
 Their goal is to build on the achievements of science and
other systematizations of knowledge to provide a single
source that can be relied on by everyone for definitive
answers to factual queries.
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

5. HISTORY
 Project lead by Stephen Wolfram
 It is the culmination of 5 years of work, and 25 more years
of previous development
 Stephen started Wolfram Research in 1987, focusing mainly
on the Mathematica software.
 In 2002 Stephen publishes “A New Kind of Science”
 In 2004 the company tries to apply the concepts from the
book to a real-world product and thus started developing
Wolfram Alpha.
 In May 18th, 2009 Wolfram Alpha is officially launched to
the public
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WOLFRAM ALPHA

6. How does Wolfram Alpha work?
 it uses built-in models of fields of knowledge, complete
with data and algorithms that represent real-world
knowledge.
 Users submit queries and computation requests via a text
field.
 Wolfram Alpha then computes and infers answers and
relevant visualizations from a core knowledge base of
curated, structured data.
 Using the Mathematica toolkit, Wolfram Alpha
can respond to natural language questions and
generate a human-readable answer.
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7. Working
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8. Alpha has 4 major components
 Data curation
 Computation
 Linguistic components
 Presentation
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WOLFRAM ALPHA

9. FEATURES
 Wolfram Alpha can only provide robust query results
based on computational facts, not queries on the social
sciences, cultural studies or even many questions about
history where responses require more subtlety and
complexity.
 For example- complex questions such as "How old
was Queen Elizabeth II in 1974?" It displays its "Input
interpretation" of such a question, using standardized
phrases such as "age | of Queen Elizabeth II (royalty) |
in 1974", the answer of which is "Age at start of 1974:
47 years", and a biography link.
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

10. Contd…..
 Wolfram Alpha does not answer queries which require a
narrative response such as "What is the difference
between the Julian and the Gregorian calendars?" but
will answer factual or computational questions such as
"June 1 in Julian calendar".
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

11. TECHNOLOGY
 Wolfram Alpha is written in 15 million lines
of Mathematica code and runs on more than 10,000
CPUs.
 The database currently includes hundreds of datasets,
such as "All Current and Historical Weather". The
datasets have been accumulated over several years.
 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".
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

12. Contd….
 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.
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

13. Wolfram Alpha Pro
 On February 8, 2012, Wolfram Alpha Pro was
released, 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, the ability to customize and
save graphical and tabular results and extra computation
time.
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

14. Contd…….
 Along with new premium features, Wolfram Alpha Pro
has led to some changes in the free version of the site:
1. An increase in advertisements on the free site.
2. Text and PDF export options now require the user to
set up a free account even though they existed before the
introduction of Wolfram Alpha accounts.
3. The option to request extra time for a long calculation
used to be free but is now only available to subscribers.
4. Step-by-Step limited to 3 for free users (previously
uncapped)(no longer available).
RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
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15. Conclusion
 Alpha focuses on questions that have definite answers or
that have answers that can be computed directly.
 In cases where there is confusion or dispute, or Alpha
cannot compute sufficient answers, there will be the
option of sidebar links to additional resources (like
Wikipedia).
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16. RAJASTHAN COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING FOR WOMEN
WOLFRAM ALPHA

17. ANY QUERIES
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