Re: Need help integrating Wolfram Alpha data in Mathematica
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg123445] Re: Need help integrating Wolfram Alpha data in Mathematica
- From: Barrie Stokes <Barrie.Stokes at newcastle.edu.au>
- Date: Thu, 8 Dec 2011 05:20:38 -0500 (EST)
- Delivered-to: l-mathgroup@mail-archive0.wolfram.com
Hi Bob
Do you get these results?
In[1]:= protonMass =
WolframAlpha["proton mass in kilograms", "ComputableData"][[1]]
Precision[ protonMass ] (* Precision[x] gives the effective number
of \
digits of precision in the number x.
*)
Accuracy[ protonMass ] (* Accuracy [x] gives the effective number of \
digits to the right of the decimal point in the numberx. *)
Out[1]= 1.6726217*10^-27
Out[2]= 7.2701
Out[3]= 34.0467
In[4]:= Precision[ protonMass ] + 27
Out[4]= 34.2701
In[5]:= Needs["PhysicalConstants`"]
ProtonMass
Precision[ ProtonMass ]
Accuracy[ ProtonMass ]
Out[6]= 1.67262*10^-27 Kilogram
Out[7]= MachinePrecision
Out[8]= 42.7312
In[9]:= $MachinePrecision
Out[9]= 15.9546
In[10]:= $MachinePrecision + 27
Out[10]= 42.9546
Hmm. I wonder what is going on here.
BTW, Wikipedia gives 1.672621777(74)*10^(*27) kg,
and
proton mass = 1.67262158 * 10-27 kilograms is the first Google hit for
"mass of a proton".
Barrie
>>> On 06/12/2011 at 7:12 pm, in message
<201112060812.DAA18403 at smc.vnet.net>, Bob
Hanlon <hanlonr357 at gmail.com> wrote:
> WolframAlpha["proton mass in kilograms","ComputableData"][[1]]
>
> 1.6726217*10^-27
>
> Needs["PhysicalConstants`"]
>
> ProtonMass
>
> 1.67262*10^-27 Kilogram
>
>
> Bob Hanlon
>
> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 5:17 AM, Dave M <cvk1812 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>> I'm using Wolfram Mathematica 8, and I have a question about using
Wolfram
> Alpha data in my calculations.
>>
>> What I would like to do is to pull data from the Wolfram Alpha
search
> engine, and then store it in a Mathematica variable for future use. I
cannot
> figure out how to do this easily.
>>
>> To illustrate what I mean, here's a simple example. Let's say I want
the
> mass of a proton in kilograms. I can obtain this by simply typing "==
mass of
> proton in kilograms", upon which Mathematica contacts the Wolfram
Alpha
> server, and downloads a lot of data.
>>
>> This data doesn't only contain the actual number I wanted, it is
actually a
> huge table with many cells containing information about how Wolfram
Alpha
> parsed my query, the assumptions used, conversions of the answer to
various
> other units, etc.
>>
>> However, all I wanted was simply the answer to my query in a
computable
> numeric form, so I could store that in a variable in Mathematica.
>>
>> I can get somewhat usable results if I do something like this:
>>
>> WolframAlpha["mass of proton in kilograms", {{"Result", 1},
>> "ComputableData"}]
>>
>> However, this is a pretty complicated way of doing something really
simple.
> Is there some simpler method that involves much less typing?
>>