Bing and Wolfram Alpha Join Forces

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.

For more detail check out Sarah Perez’s Blog Posting, the new Wolfram Alpha integration will offer answers in the areas of nutrition, fitness, and math.