Bing, Wolfram|Alpha Team Up

Bing, the decision engine, and Wolfram|Alpha, the computational knowledge engine, have become BFFs. Yes, it all adds up. On Wednesday, Bing and Wolfram|Alpha announced that Bing has become one of the first Wolfram|Alpha Webservice API customers, and probably the biggest.

Wolfram|Alpha isn't a search engine by any means, though Bing, disguised as a decision engine, really is. It's designed to be useful for things that have computational-related data, such as perhaps a query on "body mass index" or nutritional comparisons between KFC and Burger King.

While it might be difficult to imagine examples of such computational engine queries, Microsoft's Bing blog provides some. For example:

• Flu season is here and you want to ensure a solid immune system. Which has more vitamins, orange or kiwi?
• You are working out to get in shape for the ski season. Which has more protein, steak or chicken?

Wolfram|Alpha also has an humorous story about a demonstration for Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Highlighting examples of Wolfram|Alpha to the most senior executives at Microsoft, Stephen Wolfram entered the query “2^2^2^2^2”. Upon seeing the result, Bill Gates interrupted to say, “What, is that right?”

A profound silence fell over the entire room.

Stephen replied, “We do mathematics!”

Amused, Stephen, Bill, and the other executives dissected the calculation and determined that the result was, indeed, correct. Microsoft continues to pepper us with questions to this day, reflecting its continued enthusiasm in Wolfram|Alpha.

Typical of cloud-based functionality, Microsoft said it is rolling these features out and end users will be seeing them "in the days ahead."