Microsoft’s new search engine Bing is now using the computational engine known as Wolfram Alpha to answer some of its users’ search queries. Wolfram Alpha is an entirely different sort of search engine than anything that Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo offers – it’s built on top of Mathematica, a program used in scientific, engineering, and mathematical fields. As with Mathematica, Wolfram Alpha can handle math questions input into its search box, but it can also answer queries about physics and chemistry, nutritional information, weather, census data, financial information, and more. Although its scope is more limited than a traditional search engine, when asked a question it understands, it gives a real answer instead of just a list of linked search results.
Of course, the challenge for any newcomer to search is gaining awareness and then getting people to remember what the engine can be used for and when to use it. An often better solution, as it turns out, is to integrate a unique search engine’s content and capabilities into an already-established brand’s traditional search service. Microsoft did this once before with their acquisition of Powerset, the natural language processing engine that now powers Bing Reference. And now Bing is doing it again with Wolfram Alpha.
According to a post on the Bing Search Team’s blog, the new Wolfram Alpha integration will offer answers in the areas of nutrition, fitness, and math.
