Yes, Wolfram|Alpha, that's exactly what I meant.





  • (a) Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine

    @Wackypedia said:

    It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from externally sourced "curated data", rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might

    (2)  Computing 101 - Incorrect input results in incorrect output

    (c)  It's Alpha.  Maybe that bug will be fixed in Wolfram Beta or Wolfram Release Candidate.

    (IV) John McLauglin is an excellent jazz guitarist.



  • @Ben L. said:

    Filed under: If I have to explain this one I'm busting some heads

    Only thing that's not clear is what knowledge you expect a "Computational Knowledge Engine" to compute based on the search term "ieee floating point". Or is WA an encyclopaedia now too?

    Actually, the fact that it returned an album suggests that it is. Clearly not a very good one.



  • I was explaining to a friend how I could easily place a tile 0.125 units away from the grid, and they asked if I could put something 0.123 units away. I had to explain to them what floating point was, and I always like to use examples.

    Ok, now let's convert it back.

    Er, that's not what I wanted at all. Maybe it had trouble with the hexadecimal it spit out. Let's add a 0x:

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    P.S. the number I wanted was 0.1229999999999999982236431605997495353221893310546875



  • @Ben L. said:

    I was explaining to a friend how I could easily place a tile 0.125 units away from the grid, and they asked if I could put something 0.123 units away. I had to explain to them what floating point was, and I always like to use examples.

    *snip*

    AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

    P.S. the number I wanted was 0.1229999999999999982236431605997495353221893310546875

    Fair enough.

    Wolfapedia AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA



  • @El_Heffe said:

    (a) Wolfram Alpha is not a search engine

    @Wackypedia said:

    It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from externally sourced "curated data", rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might

    (2)  Computing 101 - Incorrect input results in incorrect output

    (c)  It's Alpha.  Maybe that bug will be fixed in Wolfram Beta or Wolfram Release Candidate.

    (IV) John McLauglin is an excellent jazz guitarist.

    It's not incorrect output.  The album is actually called "Floating Point" (and there's probably some reason IEEE makes sense here too).  You just had incorrect expectations for what your result would look like.

    For more fun with Wolfram|Alpha, trying asking it the distance from X to Y, where X and Y are the names of two cities that appear in more than one country.  See if you can find a pattern to which cities it chooses.  For further study, replace X and Y with the surnames of two US Presidents and see if WA notices you're not talking about places any more.

     



  • Although often irrelevant to the task at hand, the output from Wolfram Alpha is never dull.



  • @da Doctah said:

    For further study, replace X and Y with the surnames of two US Presidents and see if WA notices you're not talking about places any more.


    Did you intentionally abbreviate the name of the website in question to something that many people from the USA will automatically read as a place name which is also the name of a US President?

    Because bravo.



  • wolfram is different, it's not google. (hello, I'm captain obvious). what I mean to say is that queries google taught you are effective and spot-on often don't work well in wolfram. remember how you were learning how to google properly? well, now you'll have to learn how to wolfram properly.

    hint: i'd try "floating point arithmetics"



  • @El_Heffe said:

    (c)  It's Alpha.  Maybe that bug will be fixed in Wolfram Beta or Wolfram Release Candidate.

    ...SOMEHOW, I don't think it will ever get there. see how the "alpha" is basically incorporated into the logo? already, I usually think about it as its whole name, i predict it's going to stick forever, and will be occasionally used in this kind of argument (it's Alpha, of course it has its bugs), despite everyone already accepting that it has become its full name.



  • @SEMI-HYBRID code said:

    btw what is the correct form - "offcourse" or "of course"?

    Saying "Of course" would not be totally off course.



  • @SEMI-HYBRID code said:

    Filed under: btw what is the correct form - "offcourse" or "of course"?

    "Of course" is the one meaning "clearly" or "I expect you won't be surprised to hear".

    Of course, "off course" is also a phrase, but means "not on course", "going the wrong way".


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @arh said:

    @SEMI-HYBRID code said:
    btw what is the correct form - "offcourse" or "of course"?

    Saying "Of course" would not be totally off course.
    Off coarse.



  • @aihtdikh said:

    @da Doctah said:

    For further study, replace X and Y with the surnames of two US Presidents and see if WA notices you're not talking about places any more.


    Did you intentionally abbreviate the name of the website in question to something that many people from the USA will automatically read as a place name which is also the name of a US President?

    Because bravo.

    Wrong Answer



  • Doesn't it bug you when someone makes a good joke and then it goes sailing right over the heads of people like Semi-Hybrid there? Sheesh, it's painful to read.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Doesn't it bug you when someone makes a good joke and then it goes sailing right over the heads of people like Semi-Hybrid there? Sheesh, it's painful to read.

    Yep, pretty annoying.

    On the other hand, intentionally not getting a joke isn't a bad method of winding someone up.



  • @eViLegion said:

    @blakeyrat said:
    Doesn't it bug you when someone makes a good joke and then it goes sailing right over the heads of people like Semi-Hybrid there? Sheesh, it's painful to read.

    Yep, pretty annoying.

    On the other hand, intentionally not getting a joke isn't a bad method of winding someone up.

    I suspect that on this forum people are too busy being nitpickers to consider trolling a common scenario.



  • @aihtdikh said:

    @da Doctah said:

    For further study, replace X and Y with the surnames of two US Presidents and see if WA notices you're not talking about places any more.

    Did you intentionally abbreviate the name of the website in question to something that many people from the USA will automatically read as a place name which is also the name of a US President?
    Because bravo.
    Actually, not this time, but as a state I've already learned to be wary of it because many people not from the USA will automatically read it as Western Australia.

    And then those same people talk about watching a television show on ABC and the confusion just builds and builds.

    (Like the obituary for J Madison Wright talking about how she died at "the UK hospital" and the funeral took place "in London".)

     



  • @Ronald said:

    @eViLegion said:
    @blakeyrat said:
    Doesn't it bug you when someone makes a good joke and then it goes sailing right over the heads of people like Semi-Hybrid there? Sheesh, it's painful to read.

    Yep, pretty annoying.

    On the other hand, intentionally not getting a joke isn't a bad method of winding someone up.

    I suspect that on this forum people are too busy being nitpickers to consider trolling a common scenario.

    I've trolled many common scenarios.



  • @da Doctah said:

    @aihtdikh said:

    @da Doctah said:

    For further study, replace X and Y with the surnames of two US Presidents and see if WA notices you're not talking about places any more.


    Did you intentionally abbreviate the name of the website in question to something that many people from the USA will automatically read as a place name which is also the name of a US President?

    Because bravo.
    Actually, not this time, but as a state I've already learned to be wary of it because many people not from the USA will automatically read it as Western Australia.

    And then those same people talk about watching a television show on ABC and the confusion just builds and builds.

    (Like the obituary for J Madison Wright talking about how she died at "the UK hospital" and the funeral took place "in London".)

     


    Yep, I am well familiar with this confusion. I live in WA, and I watch the ABC.



  • @da Doctah said:

    as a state I've already learned to be wary of it because many people not from the USA will automatically read it as Western Australia.

    "Australia", which one is it I never remember: the one with the nazis or the one with crocodile dundee?



  • @Ronald said:

    @da Doctah said:

    as a state I've already learned to be wary of it because many people not from the USA will automatically read it as Western Australia.

    "Australia", which one is it I never remember: the one with the nazis or the one with crocodile dundee?

    Australia is the place where they have a kangaroo problem.



    •  WA and ABC may not be what you think they are
    • The melting temperatire of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is 65.1 °C
    • Australia has some sort of kangaroo sex problem.  Or Nazis.  We're not sure




  • @El_Heffe said:

    •  WA and ABC may not be what you think they are
    • The melting temperatire of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA is 65.1 °C
    • Australia has some sort of kangaroo sex problem.  Or Nazis.  We're not sure
    • ieee floating point is a record album that is 3751.3699999999998908606357872486114501953125 seconds long.
    FTFY



  • @El_Heffe said:

    • Australia has some sort of kangaroo sex problem.  Or Nazis.  We're not sure

    At the moment, the kangaroos aren't so much of an issue, however the politicians seem to be involved in some kind of stupidity contest. Something about an election or something, I'm fuzzy on the details.



  • Australia made Danger 5, so they got that going for them.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Australia made Danger 5, so they got that going for them.

    So Australia is the one with Nazis, not crocodile dundees? I'm confused.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Douglasac said:

    @El_Heffe said:
    Australia has some sort of kangaroo sex problem. Or Nazis. We're not sure
    At the moment, the kangaroos aren't so much of an issue, however the politicians seem to be involved in some kind of stupidity contest.
    So, do the politicians come under the heading “kangaroo sex” or “Nazis”? Or have they achieved stupidity-nirvana and combined the two?


  • Considered Harmful

    @dkf said:

    So, do the politicians come

    Yes.
    @dkf said:
    under the heading “kangaroo sex” or “Nazis”?

    Both at once.
    @dkf said:
    combined the two?

    You could say that.



  •  Nazi kangaroos: a potential meme whose time I am surprised to find has not yet come.



  •  



  • @El_Heffe said:

     


    Is kangaroo Jesus smoking a post-coital cigarette in kangaroo Hitler's pouch?



  • @blakeyrat said:

    Australia made Danger 5, so they got that going for them.
    You could have at least pointed out the start of the series Danger 5 - Episode 0 - The Diamond Girls



  • What kind of an idiot starts counting from zero!



  • @blakeyrat said:

    What kind of an idiot starts counting from zero!
    Australians



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    What kind of an idiot starts counting from zero!
    Australians

    Speaking as an Australian citizen let me say this:

    1. Australians do things backwards. We don't count from zero, we count to zero.

    2. Nazis don't start counting from 0 otherwise the Third Reich would be the Second Reich.

    3. Kangaroos don't count



  • @RTapeLoadingError said:

    @El_Heffe said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    What kind of an idiot starts counting from zero!
    Australians

    Speaking as an Australian citizen let me say this:

    1. Australians do things backwards. We don't count from zero, we count to zero.

    2. Nazis don't start counting from 0 otherwise the Third Reich would be the Second Reich.

    3. Kangaroos don't count

    I'm still not clear about which country we talk about. For some reason I was thinking that on one hand there was the place with nazis, Freud and depressing figure skating music, and on the other there was the place with kangaroos, crocodile dundees and brits slightly less digusting than those in UK. Now I'm starting to think it was always the same place, like when I discovered that Holland was not a country but rather a part of the Netherlands.

    How difficult can that be to make your country known. Start a blog or something.



  • @Ronald said:

    How difficult can that be to make your country known.

    It's generally difficult to get such knowledge to penetrate the willfully ignorant skulls of all the plebs we sent to the colonies.



  • @eViLegion said:

    @Ronald said:
    How difficult can that be to make your country known.

    It's generally difficult to get such knowledge to penetrate the willfully ignorant skulls of all the plebs we sent to the colonies.


    On the contrary! We're big fans of skull penetration, Down Under.



  • @aihtdikh said:

    @eViLegion said:
    @Ronald said:
    How difficult can that be to make your country known.

    It's generally difficult to get such knowledge to penetrate the willfully ignorant skulls of all the plebs we sent to the colonies.


    On the contrary! We're big fans of skull penetration, Down Under.

    When I said plebs, I was mainly talking about the colonies of the new world, because of course, as we all know, we send our [b]criminals[/b] to Australia.

    Normals > Plebs > Criminals

    :oP



  • @eViLegion said:

    @Ronald said:
    How difficult can that be to make your country known.

    It's generally difficult to get such knowledge to penetrate the willfully ignorant skulls of all the plebs we sent to the colonies.

    When I was in middle school, our teacher showed us pictures of people suffering from scurvy and explained that the people getting here from Europe often had this disease. For a long time I was thinking that it was because of the long trip across the ocean, but as I grew older and got to see the teeth of today's Brits I understood it was more likely linked to their European heritage (poor hygiene) - but thank god they overcame this flaw. When you look at all the former colonies today, people have normal teeth so you know that being sent away from the disgusting metropolis was a blessing. Millions of people were spared the horror of looking like a Brit.

    I won't post images here but if you do a Google search for "scurvy teeth" and "british teeth" you will also see how they look the same. Genetically decadent people.



  • @aihtdikh said:

    On the contrary! We're big fans of skull penetration, Down Under.
     

    Putting a good head in, I believe.



  • @eViLegion said:

    Normals > Plebs > Criminals
     

    Normals > Plebs > Criminals > Aboriginals

    I have accurately extended the ranking system.



  • @dhromed said:

    @aihtdikh said:

    On the contrary! We're big fans of skull penetration, Down Under.
     

    Putting a good head in, I believe.

    to each his own...


    *


    • no black guy, that's racist.


  • @eViLegion said:

    When I said plebs, I was mainly talking about the colonies of the new world, because of course, as we all know, we send our criminals to Australia.

    Normals > Plebs > Criminals

    :oP
    You only sent crims to Oz because your previous colony attempt ended up with them throwing all your arses out, so you had no where else to send your crims.



  • @OzPeter said:

    @eViLegion said:
    When I said plebs, I was mainly talking about the colonies of the new world, because of course, as we all know, we send our criminals to Australia.

    Normals > Plebs > Criminals

    :oP
    You only sent crims to Oz because your previous colony attempt ended up with them throwing all your arses out, so you had no where else to send your crims.

    I just think it's funny that we got away with that sort of shit for so long!


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Ronald said:

    no black guy, that's racist.

    Have you evaluated whether your ad hominem back-hander is justifiable according to the null hypothesis, given the general population profile of Australia? (OTOH, had you said “no women, that's sexist” I'd have given you the benefit of the doubt because under the assumption that around 50% of Australians are female, which is about normal for any national population, the likelihood of 8 random individuals being all male is 0.39%. Assuming that some sort of decision process was taking place in choosing individuals for that photograph is entirely reasonable. I have no data on ownership of jeans by Australian male bodybuilders.)



  • @dkf said:

    @Ronald said:

    no black guy, that's racist.

    Have you evaluated whether your ad hominem back-hander is justifiable according to the null hypothesis, given the general population profile of Australia? (OTOH, had you said “no women, that's sexist” I'd have given you the benefit of the doubt because under the assumption that around 50% of Australians are female, which is about normal for any national population, the likelihood of 8 random individuals being all male is 0.39%. Assuming that some sort of decision process was taking place in choosing individuals for that photograph is entirely reasonable. I have no data on ownership of jeans by Australian male bodybuilders.)

    My main objection, is the use of a particularly crass euphemism for breaking wind.



  • @dkf said:

    @Ronald said:

    no black guy, that's racist.

    Have you evaluated whether your ad hominem back-hander is justifiable according to the null hypothesis, given the general population profile of Australia?

    Well now that you bring this up, I guess this makes Australia as a whole a racist country.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @da Doctah said:

    It's not incorrect output.  The album is actually called "Floating Point" (and there's probably some reason IEEE makes sense here too)

    Nah, go look at the screenshot again. WA dropped "ieee" from the search.


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