Using Google to answer simple questions
As well as being a great search engine, Google can also answer some basic questions you might have without having to visit a different site. Google will automatically pick up many simple queries and attempt to answer them. In most cases, the results if you were to search for the query appear below the answer as well, just like a normal search. You may have noticed this when searching for basic information, but have you tried it for definitions or phone numbers? Keep reading for some more examples of how Google can quickly help you out.
Equations and conversions are a good first example, just enter a simple sum, such as 10+5, into the search box and hit enter. Similarly, enter a plain text conversion question, like three cups in pints, and Google will calculate it instantly. The same works for currencies, try 10 US dollars in UK pounds.
This is great for maths-based questions, but the same also works for factual questions. Next time you have a question with a straight-forward factual answer, try putting it into Google and see if you get the answer right back. You could start with an easy one, such as the population of Australia, and quickly find out that it’s just over 20 million. Staying with countries, how about the GDP of Brazil? Simple, according to Google, via various other sources, it is around US$1.6 trillion. Moving away from countries now, we can find out that date of birth for Nelson Mandela is 18 July, 1918; that the height of Mt Everest is 29,000 feet; or that the stock price for GOOG is currently around 714.87. All this without leaving Google.
Now we can try business information. Try searching for Melbourne Central, Melbourne, Australia. You can see that Google has returned an address, map and phone numbers for the most likely results. For US searchers, there will be a lot more information that can be found by entering information that you already have. Give it a shot with other addresses or phone numbers. In addition to this kind of information, you can also get information on courier packages simply by entering their consignment number. Google will recognise the number and the company and let you know where your package is.
The last feature of Google that I’ll cover here is definitions. Just enter define: and then any word and Google will search a number of locations for definitions and return them for you. Give it a shot with define: dodecahedron. This is a quick and easy way to use Google as a dictionary and thesaurus, all from the single page and can be extremely useful for technical or less-common words you may come across.
In short, don’t be afraid of typing things into Google to see what comes back. Just ask a question and you could receive an answer with your very next click!
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Tags: address, answers, common questions, definitions, equations, factual, Google, search engines, search terms, telephone number
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