Alexa gets access to Wolfram Alpha’s knowledge engine

Knowledge base is one of the departments where Alexa has lagged Assistant. After all, it's pretty tough to compete with Google when comes to a sheer breadth of knowledge. Wolfram Alpha is a pretty good place to start. The answer engine offers a wide cross section of curated data, with a heavy focus on math and sciences.

Starting this week, U.S.-based Alexa users will get access to that information, with roll out completing over the coming weeks and months. A few of the things you'll be able to ask Wolfram Alpha via Alexa,

Alexa, what is the billionth prime number?

Alexa, how high do swans fly?

Alexa, what is x to the power of three plus x plus five where x is equal to seven?

Alexa, how fast is the wind blowing right now?

Alexa, how many sheets of paper will fit in a binder?

Alexa, how long until the moon rises?

Wolfram pulls its own information for a wide range of sources, including its own Wolfram Mathematica and third-party resources, including CrunchBase. Alexa, for its part, is building up its own external knowledge base from a range of sites, including MDb, Accuweather, Yelp and, perhaps, most importantly, Wikipedia.