18 September 2003

Let Google count for you

One of the Google search site's quirkiest experiments yet has gone largely unseen.

The Internet's top search engine announced it had crammed a mathematical calculator into its search service, letting users type math problems directly into the search box and get instant answers. Google's calculator is trained to recognize words as well as numbers, so you can type in "eight plus seven minus four" or "8 plus 7 minus 4." Both will yield 11.

You can type numeric expressions either into the search box at Google's Web site (www.google.com) or directly into your Internet browser if you've installed Google's tool-bar software or you use a browser with built-in Google searching, such as Mozilla or Apple's Safari. Below the numeric answers Google returns, it will present a link to a regular Web search for your phrase in case you weren't trying to use the calculator.

But this calculator doesn't just do simple multiplication. It also handles conversions. Cooks may like being able to type in "quarter cup in teaspoons" and see Google reply "1 quarter U.S. cup=12 U.S. teaspoons."

Google's calculator goes beyond basic arithmetic to do complex math and crunch physical constants, too. It will process such queries as "G mass of earth" or "speed of light."

http://www.google.com / help / features.html

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