Have you ever wanted to drive a supercomputer? Now you can by browsing to WolframAlpha.com.

What is WolframAlpha? The Web site calls itself a “computational knowledge engine.” That’s a mouthful and doesn’t really answer the “What is it?” question. Its closest cousin would be a search engine, but it really does more thinking than just spitting out links.

Here are some examples of how the site works:

If you enter Weather 37912, you’ll get not only the current conditions in Knoxville, Tenn., but also the humidity; wind speed; previous and forecasted temperatures; cloud cover details; and historical temperatures for this date.

If you enter Jan. 1, you’ll see holidays observed, notable events and phase of the moon for that day along with the most recent sunrise and sunset times for the day.

If you enter Jan. 1, 2009-Sept. 1, 2009, you’ll find how many days, weeks and weekdays are between those dates.

If you enter (12.95*2.5)-5, the site will calculate the results. Simple example: Want your dinner bill total with a 20 percent tip? Enter the bill amount * 1.2. Wham-bam, out pops your total.

It’s like your own giant computing machine.

Is this the type of “thinking” search we’ll use in the future? Hmmm… wonder what I should get Angie for our anniversary?