http://www.wolframalpha.com/
Wikipedia and Google are perhaps two of the biggest resources for any students and seekers alike. But there have been times when what we've been looking for was either lost in the millions of search results—the data that we were looking for were either jumbled up or we had to refer to many pages to collect them. But with Wolfram|Alpha—a hybrid of Wikipedia and Google—we now have something that actually answers our queries. They call it the 'computational knowledge engine'—something that answers queries from the 'dynamic computations based on a vast collection of built-in data, algorithms, and methods' rather than the plain old list of web-links like our good old search engines. This means that whatever your question might be, Wolfram|Alpha tries to compute an answer and lay it out for you—be it 'What is the distance between Kathmandu and Beijing' , 'What is the atomic weight of ' or 'Integrate Sin(x)*e^x from 0 to 5'. Voted as the greatest computational innovation of 2009, Wolfram|Alpha is a boon for students as it not only processes natural human language to answer queries but also helps find scientific and socio-economic data in a jiffy. Additionally, one can learn the solution of complex mathematical problems "one step at a time".
It can read natural language
Have you ever wondered why the chicken crossed the road? Ask Wolfram; you will surely get an answer. Wolfram|Alpha even figures out complex filial relations (husband of mother's uncle's daughter) for you with a family tree. Whenever we use our computers, language has been a problem because our computer doesn't speak or think in English and we normally can't speak or think in binary and algorithms. Wolfram|Alpha is breaking that barrier and although the natural language processing they have adopted is not foolproof, it's one of the best there is in the world.
It can help you with math
Want help with your math homework? Wolfram|Alpha is there to rescue. Just enter in the equation you want solved (say, for example, Solve 3(x^2) + x-9=4x), and then click the Show steps link to see how you could solve the problem yourself the next time without help from Wolfram|Alpha. It'll then walk you through all the steps necessary to reach your answer. Wolfram|Alpha also generates graphs and formulas according to your need.
Exercise with Wolfram|Alpha
We all want to look fit. But, in this busy world who has the time for gym, right? Thanks to Wolfram|Alpha, you can now find out how many calories you can burn with the activities that you do regularly. Once you've inputted a specific physical activity, your personal statistics (age, gender, height, weight) and other relevant information (such as distance and time), Wolfram|Alpha will provide you with several statistics regarding your exercise and suggest alternative activities as well (for example: 30-year-old male, 70kg, climbing 3000 steps).
Make it accessible
Wolfram|Alpha can be installed as an extension in almost all of the modern browsers. So, get it! Enjoy its goodness on-demand. Want results on the go? Get it for your mobile then. Wolfram|Alpha app is available for almost all the leading mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia). Installing to your iPhone will cost a meager sum of $2, but if you don't want to pay for that then you can simply go to m.wolframalpha.com from the safari browser in your iPhone. There are other tons of widgets and toolbars available, you can find all these here: http://www.wolframalpha.com/downloads.html.
After you have found the information you were looking for, don't copy and paste the text or save it as a web page. Just scroll down the page and look for "save as PDF" option on the bottom of your result and click it. Wolfram will then generate a PDF version of your result, then click File > Save a Copy to save it. Doing this will save you a lot of time you would have otherwise wasted fixing alignments had you copied the text from the webpage.
Showing posts with label search engine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label search engine. Show all posts
Friday, February 11, 2011
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Yahoo! Search, Tips and Tricks
Well after the Google Search tips here is the just another tips and tricks for the Internet's 2nd largest search giant, Yahoo!. OK the list starts.
Choose Words Carefully
Use specific words to describe exactly what you're looking for. More general terms give a larger number of results, so try to narrow your search.
For example:
* Try 19th century chairs instead of old furniture
* Use digital camera reviews instead of electronics
Watch for words with more than one meaning. If you're looking for information on modeling, make sure you specify "fashion" or "clay."
Phrase Search
When you want the results with the exact phrase then you can simply use quotation marks around your search terms. Example: "the rose bud"
Including Words
To include words, just type a plus sign + in front of each one. For example, if you want to see pages about the latest "in thing," search for +in thing.
Excluding Words
To exclude words, type a minus sign - in front of them. No pages containing those words show up in your results. For example, if you want to see pages about dogs with no mention of poodles, search for "dogs -poodles."
'OR'
It shows results with either of the given words, like Pen OR book.
site: Use to find all documents within a particular domain and all its subdomains.
Example: football site:yahoo.com
hostname: Use to find all documents from a particular host only.
Example: ford hostname:autos.yahoo.com
link: Use to find documents that link to a particular URL.
Example: link:http://autos.yahoo.com/
url: Use to find a specific document in our index.
Example: url:http://edit.autos.yahoo.com/repair/tree/0.html
inurl: Use to find a specific keyword as part of indexed URLs.
Example: inurl:bulgarian
intitle: Use to find a specific keyword as part of the indexed titles.
Example: intitle:Bulgarian
'orginurlextension'
To search on specific file types, add ‘originurlextension:[file format]‘ after your search query. For example: nanotechnology originurlextension:swf OR nanotechnology originurlextension:pdf Some of the supported formats are:
* .htm, .html—Standard HTML
* .pdf—Adobe PDF
* .xls—Microsoft Excel
* .ppt—Microsoft PowerPoint
* .doc—Microsoft Word
* .xml, .rdf, .rss—RSS or XML feeds
* .txt—Plain Text Format
Definitions & Synonyms
To look up the definition of a word, try adding “define” or “definition” to your search term. For example: quixotic definition, definition of globalization or define ergonomics Or, if you’re looking for a synonym, try adding “synonym” to your search term. For example: humorous synonym
Flight tracker — search for the airline and flight number and you’ll get a shortcut to the flight’s status. Try: American 83 or Lufthansa 421
Traffic — if you’re driving instead of flying, you can search for traffic before you leave. Example: traffic Los Angeles Click on the shortcut and you’ll get a map with traffic alerts.
Maps — try searching for the exact address: ‘1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.’ Don’t have the address? No problem. Add “map” before the city: map San Francisco You can also search for the zip code by itself: 20502
Yahoo! Open Shortcuts
Yahoo! Open Shortcuts are the ultimate time-saving search feature. Add an exclamation point to the front of certain terms to instantly navigate to a URL, search a site, recall a favorite Yahoo! search, or start an application.
!wiki queen elizabeth takes you directly to the Wikipedia page for Queen Elizabeth.
!wsf gives you the Yahoo! Search results for weather San Francisco
!ebay lamps searches eBay for lamps.
Search for !list to see a bunch more.
Hotels
Type city hotels to get a quick list of hotels in that city, along with the Yahoo Local rating, the base rate, and a link to check availability. You can also look for a specific hotel chain by typing city chain--for example, San Francisco Ramada.
Sports scores
Find out how your favorite pro team is doing by typing team mascot scores. You'll get a quick look at recent games, and sometimes you can see who they're playing in the next game. The query 49ers scores will give you information about the San Francisco 49ers football team.
Movie showtimes
To see when movies are playing in your area, type showtimes zip code, and you'll get links to local theater showtimes and a few showtimes for current movies.
Zip codes
You can find all of the zip codes for a city by typing zip code city.
Area codes
If you're not sure where someone is calling from, try typing the three-digit area code into Yahoo Search. Yahoo will return a list of cities in that area code.
Weather
For a quick look at the current weather for any city, type city weather. Yahoo will give you the current conditions and the expected high and low temperatures.
Preferences
Last but not the least the preferences will really help you to search with the options for your search to choose from.
Choose Words Carefully
Use specific words to describe exactly what you're looking for. More general terms give a larger number of results, so try to narrow your search.
For example:
* Try 19th century chairs instead of old furniture
* Use digital camera reviews instead of electronics
Watch for words with more than one meaning. If you're looking for information on modeling, make sure you specify "fashion" or "clay."
Phrase Search
When you want the results with the exact phrase then you can simply use quotation marks around your search terms. Example: "the rose bud"
Including Words
To include words, just type a plus sign + in front of each one. For example, if you want to see pages about the latest "in thing," search for +in thing.
Excluding Words
To exclude words, type a minus sign - in front of them. No pages containing those words show up in your results. For example, if you want to see pages about dogs with no mention of poodles, search for "dogs -poodles."
'OR'
It shows results with either of the given words, like Pen OR book.
site: Use to find all documents within a particular domain and all its subdomains.
Example: football site:yahoo.com
hostname: Use to find all documents from a particular host only.
Example: ford hostname:autos.yahoo.com
link: Use to find documents that link to a particular URL.
Example: link:http://autos.yahoo.com/
url: Use to find a specific document in our index.
Example: url:http://edit.autos.yahoo.com/repair/tree/0.html
inurl: Use to find a specific keyword as part of indexed URLs.
Example: inurl:bulgarian
intitle: Use to find a specific keyword as part of the indexed titles.
Example: intitle:Bulgarian
'orginurlextension'
To search on specific file types, add ‘originurlextension:[file format]‘ after your search query. For example: nanotechnology originurlextension:swf OR nanotechnology originurlextension:pdf Some of the supported formats are:
* .htm, .html—Standard HTML
* .pdf—Adobe PDF
* .xls—Microsoft Excel
* .ppt—Microsoft PowerPoint
* .doc—Microsoft Word
* .xml, .rdf, .rss—RSS or XML feeds
* .txt—Plain Text Format
Definitions & Synonyms
To look up the definition of a word, try adding “define” or “definition” to your search term. For example: quixotic definition, definition of globalization or define ergonomics Or, if you’re looking for a synonym, try adding “synonym” to your search term. For example: humorous synonym
Flight tracker — search for the airline and flight number and you’ll get a shortcut to the flight’s status. Try: American 83 or Lufthansa 421
Traffic — if you’re driving instead of flying, you can search for traffic before you leave. Example: traffic Los Angeles Click on the shortcut and you’ll get a map with traffic alerts.
Maps — try searching for the exact address: ‘1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC.’ Don’t have the address? No problem. Add “map” before the city: map San Francisco You can also search for the zip code by itself: 20502
Yahoo! Open Shortcuts
Yahoo! Open Shortcuts are the ultimate time-saving search feature. Add an exclamation point to the front of certain terms to instantly navigate to a URL, search a site, recall a favorite Yahoo! search, or start an application.
!wiki queen elizabeth takes you directly to the Wikipedia page for Queen Elizabeth.
!wsf gives you the Yahoo! Search results for weather San Francisco
!ebay lamps searches eBay for lamps.
Search for !list to see a bunch more.
Hotels
Type city hotels to get a quick list of hotels in that city, along with the Yahoo Local rating, the base rate, and a link to check availability. You can also look for a specific hotel chain by typing city chain--for example, San Francisco Ramada.
Sports scores
Find out how your favorite pro team is doing by typing team mascot scores. You'll get a quick look at recent games, and sometimes you can see who they're playing in the next game. The query 49ers scores will give you information about the San Francisco 49ers football team.
Movie showtimes
To see when movies are playing in your area, type showtimes zip code, and you'll get links to local theater showtimes and a few showtimes for current movies.
Zip codes
You can find all of the zip codes for a city by typing zip code city.
Area codes
If you're not sure where someone is calling from, try typing the three-digit area code into Yahoo Search. Yahoo will return a list of cities in that area code.
Weather
For a quick look at the current weather for any city, type city weather. Yahoo will give you the current conditions and the expected high and low temperatures.
Preferences
Last but not the least the preferences will really help you to search with the options for your search to choose from.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Google Search Tips and Tricks
I am just fade up of doing the normal search of writing the keyword, then searching (more searching) for the right result to show up. Here's some of the tips and tricks you can try out to reduce the quantity but increase the quality of your search results.1.
Google is not case sensitive. Using 'book reader' as 'BOOK READER' shows the same results. But the Google operators are case sensitive. Using 'book OR reader' uses OR as Google operator but 'book or reader' doesn't. Google excludes some common words like, 'what', 'is', 'and', etc.
2. '+' It
forces a word to be used in the search. Using it with the common words like 'is', 'and', are included in the search results, which are usually discarded.
3. '-'
It prevents a search term to show in results. Example: books -fantasy will avoid results of fantasy books.
4. 'OR'
It shows results with either of the given words, like Pen OR book.
5. Synonym '~'
It shows the result not only of your search term but also the synonym of it. Example: ~ food
6. 'site:website'
It allows you to search inside the specific website only. Example: wine site:www.wineworld.com
If you want to exclude certain website from search result then you can use it. Example: food site:www.wikipedia.com -site:www.wordpress.com
7. Number range
Numrange searches for results containing numbers in a given range. Example: here's how you'd search for a DVD player that costs between $50 and $100: DVD player $50..$100
8. Phrase search
When you want the results with the exact phrase then you can simply use quotation marks around your search terms. Example: "the rose bud"
9. Get the local time anywhere
What time is it in Kathmandu right now? Enter simply what time is it to get the local time in big cities around the world, or add the locale at the end of your query, like what time is it Hong Kong to get the local time there. time Hong Kong does the same thing as what time is it Hong Kong
8. Convert currency, metrics, bytes, and more
Google's powerful built-in converter calculator can help you out whether you're cooking dinner, traveling abroad, or building a PC. Find out how many teaspoons are in a quarter cup (quarter cup in teaspoons) or how many seconds there are in a year (seconds in a year) or how many euros there are to five dollars (5 USD in Euro). For the geekier set, bits in kilobytes (155473 bytes in kilobytes) and numbers in hex or binary (19 in binary) are also pretty useful. Try half a cup in ounces. And there are many other such relations to find.
9.filetype:
It returns links to documents with the given file type. For example searching for mobile game filetype:java will find portable and object-oriented mobile games. Currently officially supported file types are pdf, ps, wk1, wk2, wk3, wk4, wk5, wki, wks, wku, lwp, mw, xls, ppt, doc, pdf, wks, wps, wdb, wri, rtf, swf, ans, txt, but other are supported as well, like xml, cpp, java etc.
10. cache:
No problem if the website is blocked; using this to your search term shows the cached version of the given web page. Example:stake money cache:something.com
11. link:
It lists webpages that link to the given webpage. Example link:http://likeweb.blogspot.com wil list webpages with links to the likeweb.blogspot.com.
12. weather:
It shows the weather information of the given city. Example: weather:Kathmandu
13. define:
It shows the definition of the searched term. Example: define:Doughnut
14. Advanced Options
Just see the right of the Google Search box. There is in tiny words saying Advanced Options. It can really help you minimise the page no and give you quality search results. You can opt for country, time, language, and many other options from it.
Still there are many other Search options that I left you to find. Just search them.
Yahoo Search Tips and tricks
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Growing up with Search Engines
When you are researching online, you need to be aware that anyone can publish a web page. This means that material you find on a web site is not necessarily accurate. This can be discouraging, but there are steps you can take to see whether or not the information is accurate.
Once you understand that not everything on the web is factual, you are ready to learn some techniques to help you sort through the thousands upon millions of sites located on the word wide web. Some well known search engines include - Google (http://www.google.com), Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com, MSN (http://www.live.com).
There are also some good search engines made specifically for kids. This means the results will be tailored to fit your needs. Two search engines designed just for kids are - KidsClick! (http://www.kidsclick.org) and Yahooligans (http://www.yahooligans.com). There are also specialized types of search engines. These sites specialise in specific fields such as math, science, medicine, and even newspaper articles.
Search Engine Tips
There are also tips you can take when typing your search request into a search engine. Here are some of the tips.
* If there's a specific phrase you're looking for, to get the best results put the phrase in quotation marks. For example, if you want to learn about graphics designer, type it into search engine as "graphics designer". If you do not your quotation marks, your results may include sites that are just about graphics, pictures.
* Include words 'or' and 'not' in your search. If you type 'book not fiction' into a search engine, then the list of results will exclude fiction books.
* Using an akterisk can also help when looking for web pages. Adding asterisks to the ends of words or partial words makes the search engine look for other words that have the same roots. For example, instead of looking for 'law' and 'lawyer' separately, you would type 'law*'. Anyway nowaday's search engines are smart enough to add the results of both 'law' and 'lawyer' without the use of * in search.
*You can use Google to search only within one specific website by entering the search terms you're looking for, followed by the word "site" and a colon followed by the domain name. For example, 'admission site:www.college.edu'.
*You can also include number range. For example 'DVD player $50- $100'.
*Use the Advanced Search option. This option allows you to search local, include date, language, domains, occurrences on the page, and likewise.
Once you understand that not everything on the web is factual, you are ready to learn some techniques to help you sort through the thousands upon millions of sites located on the word wide web. Some well known search engines include - Google (http://www.google.com), Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com, MSN (http://www.live.com).
There are also some good search engines made specifically for kids. This means the results will be tailored to fit your needs. Two search engines designed just for kids are - KidsClick! (http://www.kidsclick.org) and Yahooligans (http://www.yahooligans.com). There are also specialized types of search engines. These sites specialise in specific fields such as math, science, medicine, and even newspaper articles.
Search Engine Tips
There are also tips you can take when typing your search request into a search engine. Here are some of the tips.
* If there's a specific phrase you're looking for, to get the best results put the phrase in quotation marks. For example, if you want to learn about graphics designer, type it into search engine as "graphics designer". If you do not your quotation marks, your results may include sites that are just about graphics, pictures.
* Include words 'or' and 'not' in your search. If you type 'book not fiction' into a search engine, then the list of results will exclude fiction books.
* Using an akterisk can also help when looking for web pages. Adding asterisks to the ends of words or partial words makes the search engine look for other words that have the same roots. For example, instead of looking for 'law' and 'lawyer' separately, you would type 'law*'. Anyway nowaday's search engines are smart enough to add the results of both 'law' and 'lawyer' without the use of * in search.
*You can use Google to search only within one specific website by entering the search terms you're looking for, followed by the word "site" and a colon followed by the domain name. For example, 'admission site:www.college.edu'.
*You can also include number range. For example 'DVD player $50- $100'.
*Use the Advanced Search option. This option allows you to search local, include date, language, domains, occurrences on the page, and likewise.
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