Wolfram|Alpha is different from most of the tools out there on the web that you might use to get answers. Rather than inundate you with lists of links to web pages that may or may not be useful, Wolfram|Alpha works to understand your query.

What really sets these different approaches apart is how they deal with complexity in queries. Whether there are many concurrent factors to your question or you have a unique math computation with an answer that simply does not exist on some web page, Wolfram|Alpha is your best bet for a web service that actually understands what you are asking.

One of the ways that complexity can appear in queries is in depth, when there are multiple steps to a question. To understand what we mean by “depth,” think of the beautiful Matryoshka dolls that all fit inside of each other.

To answer a query like “elevation of Steven Spielberg’s birthplace“, the first step is to recognize that “Steven Spielberg” and “birthplace” can be combined to form a location.

(elevation) of ((Steven Spielberg’s) (birthplace))

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