Wolfram Alpha

While mucking about on the Internet I stumbled upon a unique way to find information. The reason why I am not calling it a search engine is because it isn't.

At least not in the sense that Google, Bing or DuckDuckGo is a search engine.

Here is the explanation straight from the horses mouth at http://www.wolframalpha.com/about.html

"Wolfram|Alpha introduces a fundamentally new way to get knowledge and answers—not by searching the web, but by doing dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods."

 It's a very unique idea on information gathering. In a sense the information has already been gathered. Wolfram Alpha then helps you by putting this information into context, or calculating it for you.

This is not just a math nerds tool though (Not that there is anything wrong with that). Yes it will give you the sum of pi, and give you the square root of a number (if one exists.)

But it will also run calculations on the Beetles, apple seeds, and car transmissions and show you information that you probably have never seen before. (Just to name a few)

Wolfram|Alpha’s knowledge base covers an immense range of areas including:

Mathematics »
Elementary Math · Numbers · Plotting · Algebra · Matrices · Calculus · Geometry · Trigonometry · Discrete Math · Number Theory · Applied Math · Logic · Functions · Definitions · ...

Statistics & Data Analysis »
Descriptive Statistics · Statistical Inference · Regression · Statistical Distributions · Random Variables · Probability · ...

Physics »
Mechanics · Statistical Physics · Thermodynamics · Electricity & Magnetism · Optics · Relativity · Nuclear Physics · Quantum Physics · Particle Physics · Astrophysics · Physical Constants · Physical Principles · ...

Chemistry »
Elements · Compounds · Ions · Quantities · Solutions · Reactions · Chemical Thermodynamics · Protecting Groups · ...

Materials »
Alloys · Minerals · Crystallography · Plastics · Woods · Bulk Materials · Material Hardness · ...

Engineering »
Acoustics · Audio Waveforms · Aeronautics · Control Systems · Electrical Engineering · Fluid Mechanics · Mechanical Engineering · Steam Tables · Psychrometrics · Refrigeration · Structures · ...

Astronomy »
Star Charts · Astronomical Events · Planets · Moons · Minor Planets · Comets · Space Weather · Stars · Pulsars · Galaxies · Star Clusters · Nebulae · Astrophysics · ...

Earth Sciences »
Geology · Geochronology · Geodesy · Earthquakes · Tide Data · Atmosphere · Climate · ...
Life Sciences »
Animals & Plants · Dinosaurs · DNA Sequence Lookup · Human Genome · SNPs · Proteins · Mouse Genome · Fruit Fly Genome · Metabolic Pathways · ...

Computational Sciences »
Cellular Automata · Substitution Systems · Turing Machines · Computational Complexity · Algebraic Codes · Fractals · Mathematica · Image Processing · ...

Units & Measures »
Conversions · Calculations · Comparisons · Dimensional Analysis · Industrial & Construction · Batteries · Bulk Materials · Paint · Display Formats · Ring Sizes · Shoe Sizes · ...

Dates & Times »
Date Computations · Time Zones · Calendars · Holidays · Geological Time · Birthstones · Birth Flowers · Wedding Anniversaries · ...
   
Weather »
Current & Historical Weather · Forecasts · Wind Chill · Hurricanes · Clouds · Climate · ...

Places & Geography »
Political Geography · Physical Geography · Places · Cartography · Geodesy & Navigation · Countries · Administrative Divisions · Cities · Mountains · Islands · Oceans · Lakes · Buildings · Points of Interest · ...

People & History »
People · Genealogy · Names · Occupations · Political Leaders · Historical Events · Historical Periods · Historical Countries · Historical Numerals · Historical Money · ...

Culture & Media »
Personal Analytics · Notable Texts · Periodicals · Writing · Movies · Television Programs · Television Networks · Video Games · Songs · Fictional Characters · Mythology · Awards · ...

Music »
Music Acts · Music Albums · Songs · Music Theory · Audio Waveforms · Musical Instruments · ...

Words & Linguistics »
Word Properties · Dictionary Lookup · Word Puzzles · Anagrams · Languages · Document Length · Morse Code · Soundex · Number Names · Character Encodings · ...

Sports & Games »
Sports · Games of Chance · Football · Baseball · Olympics · Stadiums · Lotteries · Roulette · Gambling · Card Games · ...

Colors »
Colors · Color Systems · Color Arithmetic · Related Colors · Colors of Light · Sets of Colors · Color Conversions · Paint Colors · Temperatures · ...

Shopping »
Consumer Products · Electronics · Office Products · Fitness Equipment · Appliances · Musical Instruments · Movie Tickets · Retail Locations · ...

Money & Finance »
Stock Data · Indices · Mutual Funds · Futures · Mortgages · Present Value · Currency Conversion · Tips · Bonds · Derivatives Valuation · Wages · Sales Tax ·

Socioeconomic Data »
Demographics · Countries · US States · US Counties · Cities · Economics · Agriculture · Energy · Salaries · Unemployment · Cost of Living · Health Care · Housing · Social Statistics · Crime · Military · Religion · ...

Health & Medicine »
Body Measurements · Growth Charts · Exercise · Diseases · Mortality Data · Medical Test Data · Teeth · Vision · Drugs & Prescriptions · Hospitals · ...

*Examples from http://www.wolframalpha.com/examples/

There are some very unique visual examples here:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/gallery.html

There is also a tour here:
http://www.wolframalpha.com/tour1.html

I personally think the best way to try Wolfram Alpha is just to go to WolframAlpha.com.