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Lightbulb
· 6 months ago
I tried, "What is the closest star to earth?" The answer it gave was Proxima Centauri. The sun is the closest star to earth.
tojosan
· 6 months ago
Can't believe no one has commented on this. Very cool list. Those are classic geek faves from Hitchhikers, Monty Python and more. Always good when a new tool has these things. Let's hope that it's indicative of their attitude going forward. Fun and usable.
shotbeak
· 6 months ago
This is awesome! Going to see if I can find some more.
This questions was actually studied in "The Ability of Woodchucks to Chuck Cellulose Fibers," by P.A. Paskevich and T.B. Shea. This study answers two questions: Can a woodchuck in fact chuck wood, and if so, can the chucked material be quantified? --see: AIR, vol. 1, no. 4, July/August 1995, pp. 4-9.
Ask it, "Are you self aware?" It has a good answer.
AlexisCeule
· 6 months ago
I can't wait to start messing with... er... I mean "using" this! Thank you for the review.
Rosana Hemann
· 6 months ago
Try asking Wolfram Alpha if he speaks Portuguese or any other Language. He'll answer... "I hope to learn many languages, but for now I speak only English"..
cindy
· 6 months ago
It couldn't come up with anything for the colour of the boathouse at Hereford :-(
Fun. Looks like Wolfram speaks text too, as it answered: "how r u?"
For Easter Eggs that Wolfram should learn, what about that old chestnut: "What do men / women want?"
njones
· 6 months ago
Wow, I didn't realize Wolfram Alpha had such a good sense of humor. I wrote about it on my blog a week or so ago and was thinking more along the lines of kids doing their math homework with it.
Adam Alfia
· 6 months ago
Awesome list. Very cool to see how Wolfram processes those questions.
I'm still waiting for a search engine that can answer "Where did I put my keys?"
Kristen Boyd
· 6 months ago
You can ask it, 'Where is Hubble?' and it will give you the exact location.
Allison
· 6 months ago
I asked "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin?" Answer: Angels are pure intelligences, not material, but limited, so that they have location in space, but not extension. Therefore, an infinity of angels can be located on the head of a pin. (according to Dorothy Sayers (who also maintains that the question is simply a debating exercise))
Kristen Boyd
· 6 months ago
You can ask it, 'Where have all the flowers gone?' It will answer: Long time passing. (according to the 1960s folk song by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson)
oriste
· 6 months ago
Nice list, really enjoyed it. But let's not get carried away here: "One of the simplest and most common greetings in the HUMAN language ...". You probably meant the ENGLISH language here. For over a billion of people the simplest and most common greeting would be "你好" for instance. They're human last time I checked.
Ben Parr
· 6 months ago
I was referring to hello and ALL its variations worldwide in all languages.
Mark H. Delfs
· 6 months ago
You can also notice what happens (look carefully!) when you type in 88MPH in the search box. Go, Marty, go! Thanks to Boyd for finding that...See my WolframAlpha screencast at http://www.phivecast.com.
Anibal do Rosario
· 6 months ago
And don't forget to mention "All your base are belong to us" then, only then has Wolfram reached its true potential ;)
Milan
· 6 months ago
How about "Where the hell is Matt?"
mandamme
· 6 months ago
I asked "are you a pc?" and got "Computation timed out." probably a coincidence, but still a good one...
mandamme
· 6 months ago
"Are you in love" gives Human Discourse, Additional functionality for this topic is under development...
Ann
· 6 months ago
Same with "Is there a god?"
Wolfram|Alpha Believer
· 6 months ago
I believe #9 ("P = NP") is not an easter egg. That is the answer given for many other subjects that aren't fully implemented yet. Try searching for "Titanic", for instance, and W|A will tell you that "Additional functionality for this topic [Disasters] is under development..." too.
Ben Parr
· 6 months ago
I was focusing on the functionality thing as being the hidden thing. Not quite an easter egg, but very important for people to know about. Also, I found the irony of trying to answer P = NP too much not to mention. :)
Rachael B
· 6 months ago
i asked the question "how old are you?" reply: 1.786 days
don manu
· 6 months ago
Try can you eat? Answer: "Can you? No I can't..."
Kristen Boyd
· 6 months ago
You can ask it for the number of horns on a unicorn. Result = 1
deepikaur
· 6 months ago
Nice finds! I'd like to see Wolfram|Alpha answer:
"pirates or ninjas" "mac or pc"
If you enter your birthdate (with the year), it'll give you some stats, such as how many days old you are, what phase the moon was in that day, what percent of the year had elapsed, what time the sun rose and set, etc..
Josh
· 6 months ago
I was pretty happy with the answer to "Can you dance?" Simply: "No I can't."
john
· 6 months ago
Put in "Is Wolfram Alpha a search engine?"
Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input.
Neal
· 5 months ago
Google can give lots of answers to that question ;P
Carla Hansen
· 6 months ago
Wolfram is working on additional functionality regarding discourse "Do you like Green Eggs and Ham?" and doesn't know what to do with the input, "Where does the sidewalk end?" Clearly, children's literature has not been added to the data base.
Lightbulb
· 6 months ago
"If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"
Sadly, no answer.
HHer
· 6 months ago
Does not know yet who killed Kenny/Kennedy…
Vicki Zerbee
· 6 months ago
Just did a nutrition check on pizza.. since we are indulging in some this Sunday evening.. we did add lots of veggies.. and pepperoni too.. yumm..
It seems from what I've read elsewhere that few understand the reason and humor behind the HAL error easter egg (#10). Much to my surprise, I've even seen the term "creepy" used in describing it. Wolfram Research is headquartered in Champaign, IL, next to Urbana, HAL's birthplace. Since Champaign and Urbana are arguably a single community in many respects, it was only natural that Wolfram would make make use of HAL on an error page. At least most people associated with the University of Illinois *should* understand the reference and hopefully see some humor in it.
Roger
· 6 months ago
It seems from what I've read elsewhere that few understand the reason and humor behind the HAL error easter egg (#10). Much to my surprise, I've even seen the term "creepy" used in describing it. Wolfram Research is headquartered in Champaign, IL, next to Urbana, HAL's birthplace. Since Champaign and Urbana are arguably a single community in many respects, it was only natural that Wolfram would make make use of HAL on an error page. At least most people associated with the University of Illinois *should* understand the reference and hopefully see some humor in it.
Andrew Millea
· 6 months ago
have you asked it how old it is?
pretty nifty response
chrismonty
· 6 months ago
I would love to see an answer for... - "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" - "What do you do with an elephant with three balls?" - "What is the difference between jam and peanut butter?"
Sadly, these remain unanswered by W.A.
venkat
· 6 months ago
ha ha that's fun expected major tech blogs covers easter eggs of wolpfram apha after its launching."I can't let u do that " is due to they are testing wolfram aplha with load test that's y that message
Try aksing; Hello, how are you? Result: I am fine thanx
dagstre
· 6 months ago
Not to mention http://www.wolframsbeta.com. The first question buffled my co-worker. He asked for his age and yes, he is 42 :D
mubix
· 6 months ago
Another good one is: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
RichardHare
· 6 months ago
Doesn't seem to know the answer to "What time is love?" is "3 A.M. Eternal"...
petrushyna
· 6 months ago
I tried some other type of queries. Some were successful, some not. The request about cloud computing get the recommendation to look for Weather http://bit.ly/16tDgs
bob ama
· 6 months ago
It's crap. Put in something like "the distance between london and new york" and watch as er no results come back
George
· 6 months ago
should've just typed "london nyc" (no quotes) and it wouldve given you a nice answer
Wolfram|Alpha also knows how many licks it takes to get the center of a Tootsie Pop.
Mercedes
· 6 months ago
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? a woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood (according to the tongue-twister)
Tobbi
· 6 months ago
Great list, thanks.
bebopdesigner
· 6 months ago
Loved No. 10 ! Brilliant!
Bill Ferriter
· 6 months ago
We just tried:
"How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"
It came back with:
"3, according to Tootsie Pop commercials."
Nice.
G
· 6 months ago
I'd like it to be able to answer:
Why is there air?
Jeff
· 6 months ago
The swallow one is wrong. The proper question is "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?" I tried asking that question, and didn't receive the response you did.
Jeff
· 6 months ago
looks like they have since updated it.
jkeirnswanson
· 6 months ago
dag, read the comments first, j, read the comments first.
"Where have all the flowers gone?" prompts the Pete Seeger classic. Unfortunately if you choose any other lyrics from the same song it reverts back to the flowers question. Weird.
Dan
· 6 months ago
"Can you pass the Turing test?"
Human Discourse Additional functionality for this topic is under development...
Well, maybe some day soon then. :^)
Ste Porter
· 6 months ago
Q: "Are you Skynet?"
A: "Additional functionality for this topic is under development..."
Ominous...
Ste Porter
· 6 months ago
Q: "Are you Skynet?"
A: "Additional functionality for this topic is under development..."
Ominous...
Me
· 6 months ago
I am very disappointed that 'what is best in life' goes unanswered.
Ben
· 6 months ago
Very good! Try this one: how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Charles
· 6 months ago
I found another one:
Paul Cooper
· 6 months ago
Where's wally?
Mike Roach
· 6 months ago
What if WolframAlpha's "Hello, Human" response is how Seinfeld talks to Newman?
Carrie
· 6 months ago
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Try: how many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
Anita Pincas
· 6 months ago
I asked: What fees does New York University charge?: and got the reply: W. doesnt understand your question.
Could someone please define what kinds of questions we can ask? Anita
anon
· 6 months ago
Another good one:
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
André
· 6 months ago
"How old are you?" is another one
adfa
· 6 months ago
Don't forget "Who is your Daddy, and what does he do?" for future additions.
Btw don't forget to try out "How old are you?"
Paul J
· 6 months ago
I'd like to see Et Tu Brutus? answered with "Ahhhggg!"
I think it's great how much time we like to spend getting this hugely powerful computation engine to answer our inane questions. We can get back to work later!
H'm... WA translates the unladen swallow airspeed request as referring to an African swallow. It gives a different answer if you specify a European swallow. Also, try "flux capacitor."
It's obviously not a Poe fan; it will not tell me if there is balm in Gilead.
Input interpretation: What is a computational knowledge engine?
Result: Me.
Chase
· 6 months ago
"To be or not to be" also works... with response "that is the question"
hahaha
wolfram| beta
· 6 months ago
it answers only for tailored questions? ask my location it provides? when u ask my browser or my OS? it fails,which can be simply identifiable..... n many more ........seriously it needs spell corrector or else it thro simply input interpretation error
I was disappointed to find that W|A doesn't know the answer to the following critical questions: * Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? * Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man? * Who is the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about?
On the plus side, when asked "What's the problem?" WA appropriately answers, "I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do?"
Also, when asked, "Are you new in town?" WA correctly identifies it as human discourse, and informs me that additional functionality for this topic is under development.
James
· 6 months ago
Should also be able to answer the question, "Who is Keyser Soze?"
Rafa
· 6 months ago
I found another one: "knock, knock" :)
rajiv
· 6 months ago
nice collection ... i found some more easter eggs.. some funny things to try out with Wolfram alpha ..
When WolframAlpha first went online I tried, "Why is the sky blue?" and got a good answer. However there was no good answer to "Why is the sky orange?" Also why don't arrow keys work in this text area? That's bogus!
yepyep
· 6 months ago
"Is this a game or is this real?"...."war games" movie from the 80s...no answer yet
Jim
· 3 months ago
Try "Shall we play a game?" and "Let's play global thermonuclear war."
Mario
· 5 months ago
You should try: Are you skynet?
foresthouse
· 5 months ago
It knows how many pickled peppers Peter Piper picked!
However, if could not tell me if it believed in the Hogfather, nor what an "out of cheese" error meant. It needs to brush up on its Terry Pratchett/Hex references! :)
Biz
· 5 months ago
Wolfram Alpha is a good news in the area of search engines. It has some advantages compared to the other search engines. Still, it is not the competition to Google or other search engines, since it uses totally different approach. It is more like dictionary or encyclopedia than search engine.
Håkon
· 5 months ago
apple/day
chris
· 5 months ago
Asimov anyone?
Ask it "can entropy be reversed?"
It knows!
chris
· 5 months ago
Asimov anyone?
Ask it "can entropy be reversed?"
It knows!
Neal
· 5 months ago
Awesome.
"1 length" gives "Assuming horse lengths for "length" | Use lengths of time instead"
It knows lots of maths jokes! Just type in "Tell me a joke", and it will give you a different one each time!
McB
· 3 months ago
ever tried this one: does god exist?
Name
· 3 months ago
ask it what are your easter eggs?
the result: Seek diligently and ye shall find. (In fact, you just did.)
Emily
· 2 months ago
Asked WolframAlpha if it is Skynet. Hmmmm.....
André Schneethaler
· 2 months ago
How to use these Easter Eggs to fabricate a genuine interview with Wolfram-Alpha was recently shown by an Austrian magazine called "Wiener" (GQ-like) and can be viewed here: www.bit.ly/wa_i
All Comments
The answer it gave was Proxima Centauri. The sun is the closest star to earth.
To be or not to be...
http://www05.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=To+be+or...
Alas, it didn't get my humor. :-(
how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
http://www05.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+much...
http://www16.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=how+much...
This study answers two questions: Can a woodchuck in fact chuck
wood, and if so, can the chucked material be quantified?
--see: AIR, vol. 1, no. 4, July/August 1995, pp. 4-9.
http://twitter.com/redwall_hp/status/1816275260
It was the first query I tried on Wolfram Alpha.
http://twitter.com/newmindgroup/status/1819292468
http://www.iconfinder.net
For Easter Eggs that Wolfram should learn, what about that old chestnut: "What do men / women want?"
Google maps does know: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sll=51.463676...
..
and got the HAL response :|
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Where%27s+...
P.S. I had to edit your 'Hello World' link to remove the '33' in front of 'www' :D
Answer: Angels are pure intelligences, not material, but limited, so that they have location in space, but not extension. Therefore, an infinity of angels can be located on the head of a pin.
(according to Dorothy Sayers (who also maintains that the question is simply a debating exercise))
(according to the 1960s folk song by Pete Seeger and Joe Hickerson)
"pirates or ninjas"
"mac or pc"
If you enter your birthdate (with the year), it'll give you some stats, such as how many days old you are, what phase the moon was in that day, what percent of the year had elapsed, what time the sun rose and set, etc..
Simply: "No I can't."
Wolfram|Alpha isn't sure what to do with your input.
Sadly, no answer.
What if you ask it something in Spanish?
http://www14.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=que+paso...
--
Rob Fuller | Mubix | Room362.com | Hak5.org
pretty nifty response
- "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
- "What do you do with an elephant with three balls?"
- "What is the difference between jam and peanut butter?"
Sadly, these remain unanswered by W.A.
http://www33.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=wood+wou...
"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
a woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood
(according to the tongue-twister)
"How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?"
It came back with:
"3, according to Tootsie Pop commercials."
Nice.
Why is there air?
http://www67.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=what+do+...
Human Discourse
Additional functionality for this topic is under development...
Well, maybe some day soon then. :^)
A: "Additional functionality for this topic is under development..."
Ominous...
A: "Additional functionality for this topic is under development..."
Ominous...
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Wolfram|Alpha knows: http://bit.ly/iPvBB
Answer: 1 peck. (Plus unit conversions!!)
What fees does New York University charge?:
and got the reply:
W. doesnt understand your question.
Could someone please define what kinds of questions we can ask?
Anita
how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Btw don't forget to try out "How old are you?"
I think it's great how much time we like to spend getting this hugely powerful computation engine to answer our inane questions. We can get back to work later!
http://www89.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=where+is...
It's obviously not a Poe fan; it will not tell me if there is balm in Gilead.
http://www36.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Can+vege...
"What is an easter egg?" on Wolfram is kewl :)
http://www54.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=where+is...
What is a computational knowledge engine?
Result:
Me.
hahaha
ask my location it provides?
when u ask my browser or my OS? it fails,which can be simply identifiable.....
n many more ........seriously it needs spell corrector or else it thro simply input interpretation error
http://www59.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=random
http://www99.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=where+in...
* Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?
* Who is the man that would risk his neck for his brother man?
* Who is the cat that won't cop out when there's danger all about?
On the plus side, when asked "What's the problem?" WA appropriately answers, "I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do?"
Also, when asked, "Are you new in town?" WA correctly identifies it as human discourse, and informs me that additional functionality for this topic is under development.
http://talisman-rajiv.blogspot.com/
Also why don't arrow keys work in this text area? That's bogus!
However, if could not tell me if it believed in the Hogfather, nor what an "out of cheese" error meant. It needs to brush up on its Terry Pratchett/Hex references! :)
Ask it "can entropy be reversed?"
It knows!
Ask it "can entropy be reversed?"
It knows!
"1 length"
gives
"Assuming horse lengths for "length" | Use lengths of time instead"
http://www56.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+length
http://www07.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Where+is...
http://www07.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=Where+is...
what are your easter eggs?
the result:
Seek diligently and ye shall find. (In fact, you just did.)