How to get answers to questions Options

[bwelford]

You might find this answer machine better for some purposes than Google. What do you think?

Tip of the hat to metacool.

[rustybrick]

The way I determine if a search engine can specifically answer questions is by asking it one.

A popular question I use is "when was Ben Franklin born?"

Ask Jeeves is a question answer engine, so go ahead and ask the butler. You get the answer at the top. But your right, the answer machine gives the correct answer right away, see here. Google, Yahoo, and MSN do not do that. Even Google's Answers.com, which is suppose to do that, does not give you the answer right away.

Good thread. I wonder what some of the others think about search engines being able to understand if a question is being asked and serving up an answer right away like Jeeves and BrainBoost???

[bwelford]

That's a good example, Rustybrick.

Seems to me there should be a special symbol to indicate when it's a question. You could always finish it with a '?'. What do you think?

[rustybrick]

? is logical, but I bet most don't use it in their search for answers. Same search works without the ? in Jeeves. Its probably about the who, what, when, where and why (how) formats.

[McFox]

Brainboost is not a chatbot. It was designed to answer questions which are factual in nature

LMAO!
That was the "Tip" when I asked the question, "How can I make money?" Lame question, great answer! Wicked!
I really like this engine.

As for a SE distinguishing between a query and a question, if the input text was preceeded by a "?", rather than at the end as in normal sentence structure, it would make it obvious. It would also be a format that could easily be remembered and adopted by searchers.

[AbleReach]

The chatbot warning seems to come up any time you use a query that ends in a question mark... but I wonder...

Semi side note - a while back I asked about 20 people of varying experience what they'd put into a search engine in order to get what they want.

about 1/3 ask a question "Where can I find a good dentist who does root canals in xyz city"
(brainboost gave me a combo of dentist finders, dental insurance links, info on bad stuff that can happen in your mouth, chicken recipes, a kiwi web design page??) LOL

about 1/2 make a statement of what they want "hiking shoes for kids"
(brainboost gave all targeted results)

the rest use what I'd consider to be logical
"most specific term, second most specific term, third most specific term"
(didn't give brainboost a crack at that)

The road leads ever onward. :-)

Elizabeth

p.s.
LOTS of paid ads at the top of the results for "How can I make more money?"
LOL!!!

Elizabeth (wow, where did the time go...)

[rustybrick]

As a follow up, I wrote a blog entry on this topic and Yosef Hass left a comment showing how MSN started doing this as well.

Try a search on When was ben franklin born?
or
Who was the 27th president of the united states?

Seems like they just added it.

[bearmugs]

I asked it

Who shot Liberty Valence

and it replied

Pitney, Gene: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.

If I ask it "Who shot the sheriff" it will probably tell me that I did?

John EH!

[McFox]

Man, that is awesome!

Although there appears to be some debate on who was the 27th president which seems to stem from;

When Cleveland defeated Harrison in the next election and took office for his second term, there still had only been 23 individuals since George Washington to hold the office of President, Cleveland being the 22nd. However, because of Cleveland's non-consecutive terms some sources call him the 22nd and 24th President

from presidentsusa.com, although to be fair, the site does say it is pretty much the only place that changes the numbers around.

[rustybrick]

Nice McFox - that is great. lol

[Grumpus]

You guys are nuts. If you really want answers to factual questions, try this...

Go to your pretty little "Answer Machine" and ask it "How many feet are in a mile?" It's got the answer there - and it even tells you how many feet are not in a mile in once case.

Just want the answer though? Enter the same question into Google.

Enter in What is 229x48? (or just 229x48). (Answer machine doesn't know that one).

What is 27 degrees centigrade in fahrenheit?

What is 27 degrees centigrade in kelvin?

What is the speed of light?

For your mathematical needs, Google rules the coop.



G.

[bwelford]

What's that phrase again? "Figures can't lie, and liars can't figure". Of course Google does no evil, so that explains everything.

[AbleReach]

LOL Barry!!!!




Elizabeth

[projectphp]

Why can't they do time as well: what time is it in california?

That one WOULD actually be helpful. I often, living in the future as one Yanky Comedian put it, need to work out the time elsewhere, but get sick of doing the calculations, "6 hours in front, a day behind... wait, it is 11pm, that makes it, no wait, i know, it is, 5 am?? today??"

If any of these SE gave time translations, that would be extremely helpful.

[projectphp]

I take it back: http://web.ask.com/web?q=what+time+is+it+i...a%3F&qsrc=0&o=0 WAYYYY!!!! COOL!!!!

I finally have a really good reason to use Ask Jeeves

<added>Ahem, my mistake </added>

[rustybrick]

I finally have a really good reason to use Ask Jeeves

A powerful search engine is just a world clock for you.

I bet some states have multiple time zones, don't they? I am from NY, so you know how New Yorker's think.

[projectphp]

A powerful search engine is just a world clock for you.

And what is wrong with that? I am a simple amn at heart!

Over here, all states are one time zone. A bit more tricky actually. There are spots in Australia where it is 2 hours difference accross a line!!

[Tim]

And if there is multiple time zones in a state, just enter the city - it works just as well! Great find Michael. (Although, it's just as easy to go to www.worldtimeserver.com )