Video: Wolfram Alpha is shown to the public

Wolfram Alpha, the much-hyped search engine that could give Google a run for its money, has been given a sneak preview to the public.

The system will let users ask a fact-based question, with the computer working out the answer.

Described as an electronic brain that is smarter than Google, Wolfram Alpha is the brainchild of London-born scientist Steven Wolfram, and is expected to go live in the middle of May.

In his latest blog post, he compared the idea of Wolfram Alpha to the role played by philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, who imagined that it was possible to represent human discourse using logic and mathematics.

Wolfram said: "I think now is pretty much the first time in history that technology and ideas have reached the point where Wolfram Alpha is at all practical."

A sneak preview of Wolfram Alpha

And a few screenshots from his talk