One of the things we’ve tried to do with Bing is to bring customers the information they are looking for, presented in a useful way. If we can adequately infer a user’s intent, we can bring them a much more compelling experience than an endless list of links. We can bring them real knowledge and get them closer to the answer they were looking for or the decision they were trying to make.

At Bing, this journey began with our work on answers, and we continue to try hard to deliver the best answers we can, based on our estimation of query intent. Flight information, local weather, sports scores and stats are some of the early examples of these types of experiences.

But we believe lots more can be done for our customers. Today we are excited to unveil some work we have been doing with Wolfram|Alpha. Started in May 2009 by noted scientist Stephen Wolfram, Wolfram|Alpha is an ambitious (and very cool) project to, as the company’s website says, “make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.”

This notion of creating and presenting computational knowledge in search results is one of the more exciting things going on in search (and beyond) today, and the team at Bing is incredibly fired up to bring some of this amazing work to our customers. You will begin to see the benefits of this unique partnership over the next several days as we roll it out in the US.

So what are we doing? Well, we‘ll be providing access to Wolfram|Alpha’s advanced algorithms and expertly curated data within the Bing experience. This new and exciting work is completely aligned with our broader goal of enabling faster, more informed decisions. Specifically, we will bring nutritional information and tools into Bing’s search results, as well as some straight up hard math and homework help.

Let’s take a look at what this partnership will bring in the areas of nutrition and fitness.

Roughly 90 Million Americans are on a diet every year, which means keeping track of your diet and physical condition is important to many people. Bing, powered by Wolfram|Alpha will bring you improved nutrition results in order to help you make more informed choices on your diet.

When you search for specific food items on Bing, you’ll get a nutrition quick tab that allows you to learn more about it. You also get a nutrition facts label at the bottom of the results page that summarizes all information on that food item in a very familiar and friendly format.

Some ways it can be useful:

• 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?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(equivalent to screenshots above)Another helpful tool is the body mass index that tracks your workout progress. We have introduced Wolfram|Alpha’s body mass index interactive form on our results page. If you search for ‘bmi’ you’ll get the option to enter your height and weight. Click ‘Calculate’ and you’ll get a detailed Body Mass Index analysis directly on Bing.

 

The improved nutrition and fitness results are just a few of the computational search results that our partnership with Wolfram|Alpha will bring to Bing. We are also able to rely on Wolfram|Alpha’s ability to solve complex math functions (and some easy ones too) and to provide you with knowledge about unique math concepts.

 

 

We have begun rolling out these features and you should start seeing them in the days ahead.

We hope you use them to stay happy and healthy (and good at math)!

Thanks,

Tracey Yao – Program Manager

Pedro Silva – Product Manager

 

Other post of interest:

In His Own Words: Stephen Wolfram on Computational Knowledge