hi shahnaz, I read yor mesage it was enlightening one. but i could not undrstand the word [Alpha] can yu please explain it for me.
regards Prasanna On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 9:07 AM, akhilesh singh < [email protected]> wrote: > hi shahnaz, > > I read yor mesage it was enlightening one. but i could not undrstand > the word [Alpha] can yu please explain it for me. > > regards > > akhilesh > On 5/1/09, shahnaz <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > BBC NEWS > > Web tool 'as important as Google' > > A web tool that "could be as important as Google", according to some > > experts, has > > been shown off to the public. > > Wolfram Alpha is the brainchild of British-born physicist Stephen > Wolfram. > > The free program aims to answer questions directly, rather than display > web > > pages > > in response to a query like a search engine. > > The "computational knowledge engine", as the technology is known, will be > > available > > to the public from the middle of May this year. > > "Our goal is to make expert knowledge accessible to anyone, anywhere, > > anytime," said > > Dr Wolfram at the demonstration at Harvard University's Berkman Center > for > > Internet > > and Society. > > The tool computes many of the answers "on the fly" by grabbing raw data > from > > public > > and licensed databases, along with live feeds such as share prices and > > weather information. > > People can use the system to look up simple facts - such as the height of > > Mount Everest > > - or crunch several data sets together to produce new results, such as a > > country's > > GDP. > > Other functions solve complex mathematical equations, plot scientific > > figures or > > chart natural events. > > "Like interacting with an expert, it will understand what you're talking > > about, do > > the computation, and then present you with the results," said Dr Wolfram. > > As a result, much of the data is scientific, although there is also > limited > > cultural > > information about pop stars and films. > > Dr Wolfram said the "trillions of pieces of data" were chosen and managed > by > > a team > > of "experts" at Wolfram Research, who also massage the information to > make > > sure it > > can be read and displayed by the system. > > Nova Spivak, founder of the web tool Twine, has described Alpha as having > > the potential > > to be as important to the web as Google. > > "Wolfram Alpha is like plugging into a vast electronic brain," he wrote > > earlier this > > year. "It computes answers - it doesn't merely look them up in a big > > database." > > Learning language > > The new tool uses a technique known as natural language processing to > return > > answers. > > This allows users to ask questions of the tool using normal, spoken > language > > rather > > than specific search terms. > > For example, a relatively simple search, such as "who was the president > of > > Brazil > > in 1923?", will return the answer "Artur da Silva Bernardes". > > This technique has long been the holy grail of computer scientists who > aim > > to allow > > people to interact with computers in an instinctive way. > > Dr Wolfram said that Alpha has solved many of the problems of > interpreting > > people's > > questions. > > "We thought there would be a huge amount of ambiguity in search terms, > but > > it turns > > out not to be the case," he said. > > In addition, he said, the system had got "pretty good at removing > linguistic > > fluff", > > the kinds of words that are not necessary for the system to find and > compute > > the > > relevant data. > > Simple text > > However, he said, most users tend to stop using structured sentences > fairly > > quickly. > > "Pretty soon they get lazy, and they say 'I don't need all those extra > > words'." > > Instead they tended to use "concepts" similar to how most people use > search > > engines > > today. > > But Dr Boris Katz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a natural > > language > > expert, said he was "disappointed" by Dr Wolfram's "dismissal of English > > syntax as > > 'fluff'''. > > For example, he said, suppose someone asks ''When did Barack Obama visit > > Nicolas > > Sarkozy?" > > "Here, understanding the sentence structure is important if you want to > be > > able to > > distinguish cases where it was Barack Obama who visited Nicolas from > cases > > where > > it was Nicolas Sarkozy who visited Barack Obama," he said. > > "I believe he is misguided in treating language as a nuisance instead of > > trying to > > understand the way it organises concepts into structures that require > > understanding > > and harnessing." > > Dr Katz is the head of the Start project, a natural language processing > tool > > that > > claims to be "the world's first web-based question answering system". It > has > > been > > on the web since December 1993. > > Like Alpha, the system searches a series of organised databases to return > > relevant > > answers to search queries. However, it only uses public databases and > runs > > on a much > > smaller scale than Alpha. > > Dr Katz said, it answers "millions of questions from hundreds of > thousands > > of users > > from around the world" on topics as diverse as places, movies, people and > > dictionary > > definitions. > > It is also able to compute answers form several sources in a similar way > to > > Alpha. > > Web companies have also harnessed natural language processing. > > For example, Powerset, uses technology developed at the Palo Alto > Research > > Center, > > the former research laboratories of Xerox. > > The company is attempting to build a similar search engine "that reads > and > > understands > > every sentence on the Web". > > In May 2008, the company released a tool that allowed people to search > parts > > of Wikipedia. > > Two months later, it was acquired by Microsoft. > > Dr Wolfram said he has been working on Alpha for several years. However, > he > > imagines > > that it will continue to evolve. > > "In a sense we are at the beginning," he said. > > Story from BBC NEWS: > > > > > > > > Own a website.Get an unlimited package.Pay next to nothing.*Go to > > http://in.business.yahoo.com/ > > > > > > > > To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] > > the subject unsubscribe. > > > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please > > visit the list home page at > > > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > > > > > > To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] > the subject unsubscribe. > > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, > please visit the list home page at > http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in > To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. 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