最近很火，下面看来的一些试验，很有意思，你们试出什么好玩的了？

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1. To be or not to be?

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We already knew that Wolfram Alpha could crack a joke and knew its music, but literature too? Maybe Wolfram is a romantic at heart?

Thank you: shotbeak

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2. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck?

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It’s a classic tongue-twister that we’re certain you’re going to repeat aloud in a few seconds:

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

But apparently tongue-twisters don’t bother Wolfram one bit.

Thank you: Alex Korth

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3. Do you speak __?

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Hey, hey - it’s a fair question to ask Wolfram if it can speak Spanish, Latin, or German. After all, Google search comes in 100+ languages. We’ll forgive Wolfram Alpha for only speaking English for now - it’s barely a few days old - but look forward to international versions of the engine.

Bonus: Try asking Wolfram a question in some foreign languages (i.e. que paso pa?) and Wolfram will answer in that language. Of course, this kind of contradicts Wolfram’s earlier claim that it only knows English…

Thank you: Rosana Hemann and Miguel Alvarez

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4. How old are you?

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Wolfram Alpha knows at what time the sun rose on the day you were born, so why wouldn’t it know a little about its own birthday? Wolfram provides detailed information in days, seconds, and hours as to how long it’s been in public use.

Thank you: Kristen Boyd and Megan

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5. Where have all the flowers gone?

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Wolfram Alpha once again proves that it knows the lyrics to some of the world’s most popular songs.

Thank you: Kristen Boyd

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6. How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

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This one explains itself…if you know who Dorothy Sayers is.

Thank you: Allison

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7. 88 MPH

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Hidden deep within a standard query is this little gem from Back to the Future (which, if you haven’t seen, please do yourself the favor and rent/download). It’s good to know that it knows the speed of Delorian-based time travel.

Wait…do you think Wolfram knows the secret to time travel? This could be interesting.

Bonus: Ask it about flux capacitors. Seriously, go try right now and then come back.

Thank you: Mark H. Delfs

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8. Can you eat?

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Well that’s rude of Wolfram - it didn’t even give me a chance to ask my entire question.

Bonus: Try asking whether it can dance. I don’t know why you’d want to dance with a computational entity, but to each his or her own I guess.

Thank you: don manu and Josh

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9. Licks to the center of a tootsie pop?

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Do you remember the old Tootsie roll commercial? If not, let me refresh your memory with this YouTube video. Then this easter egg will make sense:

 Popout

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10. Are you self-aware?

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We’ve been asking this question all day. Strangely enough, we didn’t know that Wolfram would give us an answer. The next generation of machine…or the next Skynet? Let’s, uh, leave that question unanswered for now.

Thank you: Ashley

Wolfram Alpha将在下周一正式发布。还没听说过这个全新搜索引擎的朋友，可以看这里。 Alpha搜索引擎（更恰当的说，是computing engine）以它的发明者Stephen Wolfram博士命名，参与研发的人员全部来自Wolfram Research公司。Stephen Wolfram，1959年出生于伦敦，先后就读于伊顿公学、牛津大学，15岁时发表第一篇科学论文，20岁时获得加州理工大学理论物理博士学位，22岁获得MacArthur奖（美国跨领域最高奖，丘成桐84年获得该奖时35岁），23岁时创立复杂系统研究（complex systems research）领域，27岁时开发Mathematica，43岁时出版「A New Kind of Science」。其中，Mathematica同时获得了技术与商业上的巨大成功，成为支撑Wolfram Research公司的旗舰产品。一句话，Wolfram博士是个不世出的天才。

为了下周一的发布，Wolfram Research公司准备了多个数据中心，其中有全球排名前40的超级计算机，也有大规模Dell服务器集群。这几个数据中心，总共可以承担每天1.75亿次查询。然而，还是有人担心，发布当天网站会瘫痪。

Wolfram Research公司总部设在Champaign，也就是University of Illinois所在的大学城，这里有美国国家超级计算应用中心（NCSA）。

先简单说说对Wolfram Alpha搜索引擎的第一行计算，通过接近自然语言的界面，回答一些事实性问题。Alpha与Google的重要区别在于，后者仅仅索引互联网上的已有知识，而前者却有相当潜力制造出原先并非显式存在的知识。

我们来看几个例子。

1个苹果加2个桔子等于？

基于Mathematica的Alpha，解方程自然不是问题。

直接比较两只股票。

北京大学似乎不如中国石油大学有名？

红黄紫凑在一起，是什么颜色？

爸爸的哥哥的女儿，是？

比较两个网站。

哪些词以“age”结尾？

世界上最富有的男人和女人，财富相差多少？

把Alpha跟Google比，无异于把苹果跟桔子比较。Alpha并非Googel那样的通用搜索引擎，但在某些方面，它可以大大缩短用户查找信息的时间。Alpha发布后，用户数量可能不会很快增长，但肯定会形成一个铁杆粉丝群。遗憾的是，Alpha目前还不支持英文之外的其他语言。

有兴趣的朋友就可以直接访问www.wolframalpha.com，感受它带来的全新搜索体验。

 

     很久没更新了，不是因为懒，不是因为没事发生，是因为我从小就作文不好。既然要给大家看就要做到准确优美，这样才算负责。

 

     生活还是一样的平淡，但每天的一点点不同都让我期待着下一日。

 

     说说最近都做了些什么：四月开始愚人节那天，因为没人认为我愚，很平安的过去了，我很欣慰。随后的一个月中，有朋友过生日，有朋友结婚，见了面，吃了饭，聊了天。时不时看看电影，每天早上听听广播。假期回家看看爸妈，一切平淡美好。四月看了《论语》《遥远的救世主》《资本论》还有一些没有看完的书。学会了基本的太极拳，一些瑜伽动作和基本的游泳。四月少了一些运动，去了一次野长城户外，去了一次水库钓鱼。四月开始炒股，目前不赔不赚，贷款每月按时扣，房租每月按时交。

 

     四月思考很多，思考让我很安静，而且越来越安静。

    

     四月这样度过。