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Mathematica lets me be so lazy that I don't even have to switch to a browser to check the weather report:

The only problem is that it will automatically display the temperature and wind speed in Fahrenheit and miles per hour. Unfortunately I don't speak Fahrenheit and I'd like to see it in Celsius. When using W|A online, it is possible to create a user account and set W|A to metric permanently.

Is it possible to set preferences such as this one permanently (at least for the duration of a session) when using W|A from within Mathematica?

Szabolcs
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  • I know I can use == or click that little + and then use the Show Metric button. The question is about setting the default though. For example it is possible to log in to my W|A account from within Mathematica and let it use my personal preferences? – Szabolcs Mar 24 '14 at 14:46
  • have you tried SetOptions[WolframAlpha, PodStates -> {"Show metric"}]. I can't really test as it shows stuff in metric units for me by default. Would be interesting to know what it is that determines the default... – Albert Retey Mar 24 '14 at 15:55
  • @AlbertRetey This is the solution, can you post it as an answer? AFAIK default is determined by location (IP address?) – Szabolcs Mar 24 '14 at 16:00
  • just did that. As for the default: I was guessing that as well, but have you found any documentation on that? Probably that's too much to ask for as Wolfram|Alpha certainly makes such decisions based on its AI and noone knows where they come from :-). – Albert Retey Mar 24 '14 at 16:07
  • @AlbertRetey I found some references in the W|A forums. Some people were complaining about getting non-metric in Europe. I guess that if the browser-based W|A determines location based on IP, then so does Mathematica. But maybe it's based on $GeoLocation and I could have tried setting that (which would also change which city the weather is reported for). – Szabolcs Mar 24 '14 at 16:15
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    "weather in celcius" ==> "Latest recorded weather for Cuciu, Romania"... Sigh. Although, I suppose "weather" in "Celcius", a unit of temperature, is a ridiculous question :D – rm -rf Mar 24 '14 at 16:23

1 Answers1

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You can set the options for WolframAlpha in the usual way. The option to change is:

SetOptions[WolframAlpha, PodStates -> {"Show metric"}]

as for me (for whatever reason) it was the default to show metric units, I could verify with:

SetOptions[WolframAlpha, PodStates -> {"Show non-metric"}]

that this seems indeed to affect also the answers to the free form input-cells.

Albert Retey
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