3PO-LABS: ALEXA, ECHO AND VOICE INTERFACE
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3PO-Labs: Alexa, Echo and Voice Interface

Alexa must've skipped logarithm day in math class...

2/27/2016

3 Comments

 
Because it turns out she gives you the wrong answer for logarithms.  The problem is that she always calculates the natural log, even when that's not what you asked for.  There's no way (that I've found) to get her to calculate a common base-10 log.  Screenshots after the break...


Alexa calculates everything as a natural log
Note that the value returned when asking for log of two is (incorrectly) the same as the value (correctly) returned for natural log of two.
Because that "Search Bing" link made me suspicious about whether Amazon was calculating this themselves or delegating the operation, I double checked that Bing does in-fact know how to calculate logarithms:
Bing calculates log of 10 correctly
As we can see, Cortana was apparently a good student, and as a result Bing knows how to properly calculate log 10.
I figured maybe it was just having a hard time with the invocation, and that deep down it did know how to calculate logarithms properly if I asked correctly, so here are a few other phrases I tried:
  • "Alexa, what is log base ten of ten?"
  • "Alexa, what is the base ten logarithm of ten?"
  • "Alexa, what is the common logarithm of ten?"
Unfortunately, each of these phrases ended up triggering one of the generic failure messages - "Sorry, I couldn't find the answer to your question."
The saying goes, though, that even a broken clock is correct twice a day.  That notion applies here, too, as it turns out Alexa is really good at calculating log(1).
Log of one is calculated correctly
Hooray! ;)
3 Comments
Greg
2/27/2016 05:09:52 pm

Try asking the log of n divided by the log of ten.

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Rumus Luas Persegi Lengkap link
4/8/2016 01:45:06 pm

Thanks Sir :)

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Richard Fremon
12/13/2016 05:49:16 am

Some prefer log base 10 while others prefer natural logs (base e). Unfortunately Alexa doesn't give you a choice. All you get is natural logs (abbreviated Ln)

I think there is a simple conversion. If memory serves, you simply divide the natural log by 2.303. (Alexa will tell you that Ln (10) = 2.303)

For anyone who is interested, the general "change of base" formula would be logb(x) = loga(x) / loga(b).

Hope that helps. Maybe Alexa will read this?

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