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FindTextualAnswer
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FindTextualAnswer

[Experimental]

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FindTextualAnswer[text,"question"]

gives the substring of text that best appears to answer question.

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FindTextualAnswer[text,"question",n]

gives a list of up to n answers that appear most probable.

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FindTextualAnswer[text,"question",n,prop]

gives the specified property for each answer.

Details and Options

  • In FindTextualAnswer[text,…], text can be a string, a file with plain text, a ContentObject expression or a list of these text objects.
  • FindTextualAnswer[text,{"question1","question2",…},…] gives answers for each of the questioni.
  • The property prop can be one of the following:
  • "String"substring corresponding to candidate answer
    "Probability"
  • estimated probability that the answer is correct
    • "Position"
  • start and end positions in text of the answer
    • "Sentence"sentence containing the candidate answer
    "Line"line containing the candidate answer
    "Paragraph"paragraph containing the candidate answer
    "HighlightedSentence"sentence with candidate answer highlighted
    "HighlightedLine"line with candidate answer highlighted
    "HighlightedParagraph"paragraph with candidate answer highlighted
    {prop1,prop2,…}a list of property specifications
  • The following option can be given:
  • TargetDevice "CPU"target device on which to perform the computation
    PerformanceGoal Automaticwhich aspects of performance to optimize
  • Possible settings for PerformanceGoal include "Speed" and "Quality".
  • FindTextualAnswer uses statistical methods to try to find answers. Details of the text and question can affect its performance.
  • FindTextualAnswer may download resources that will be stored in your local object store at $LocalBase, and that can be listed using LocalObjects[] and removed using ResourceRemove.

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (2)Summary of the most common use cases

Answer a question from a sentence:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-fmqlzp
Out[1]=1

Answer a question from a paragraph:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-je4fom
Out[1]=1

Scope  (6)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Find multiple possible answers from a text:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-zz1dqx

Find multiple possible answers along with their probability:

In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-2qsdi0

Answer several questions:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-xjkctd
Out[1]=1

Find the sentence containing the answer:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-9k3gsh
Out[1]=1

Get the position of the answer in the question:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-drzh02
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-gzr7qo
Out[2]=2
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-7828ke
Out[3]=3
In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-e8j6nq
Out[4]=4

Answer several questions and display the answers in context:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-xxeh3k
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-7gcz44

Look for the answer to a question from a ContentObject expression:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-zr4y2t
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-bg4wnd

Options  (2)Common values & functionality for each option

PerformanceGoal  (1)

Use PerformanceGoal"Quality" to get a more accurate answer:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-831cqg
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-3pe9xe
Out[2]=2
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-wfsbjj
Out[3]=3

TargetDevice  (1)

Answer questions using the default system GPU, if available:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-qtd1yg
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-sx59cg
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-ce6gjo
Out[3]=3

The computation is typically faster than with CPU:

In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-fbm9ux
Out[4]=4

If a compatible GPU is not available, a message is issued:

In[5]:=5
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-54b7r2
Out[5]=5

Applications  (1)Sample problems that can be solved with this function

Search an Answer to a General Question in Wikipedia  (1)

Display in context the possible answers from a Wikipedia search:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-bu7ezu
In[2]:=2
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-6ug5kf
In[3]:=3
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-6738y2
Out[3]=3

The instances of the same names can be grouped along with their probabilities:

In[4]:=4
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-hsspl3
In[5]:=5
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-98sxd
Out[5]=5

Then the one with the largest total sum of probability is probably the good answer:

In[6]:=6
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-bjt5nc
Out[6]=6

Possible Issues  (1)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

FindTextualAnswer is able to understand semantic concepts to some extent but is not able to use logic to guess a number:

In[1]:=1
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https://wolfram.com/xid/0ixdbxqnqybe4iq-6e54lj
Out[1]=1
Wolfram Research (2018), FindTextualAnswer, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html (updated 2020).
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Wolfram Research (2018), FindTextualAnswer, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html (updated 2020).

Text

Wolfram Research (2018), FindTextualAnswer, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html (updated 2020).

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Wolfram Research (2018), FindTextualAnswer, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html (updated 2020).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2018. "FindTextualAnswer." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2020. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html.

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Wolfram Language. 2018. "FindTextualAnswer." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2020. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2018). FindTextualAnswer. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html

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Wolfram Language. (2018). FindTextualAnswer. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_findtextualanswer, author="Wolfram Research", title="{FindTextualAnswer}", year="2020", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html}", note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}

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@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_findtextualanswer, author="Wolfram Research", title="{FindTextualAnswer}", year="2020", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html}", note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_findtextualanswer, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={FindTextualAnswer}, year={2020}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html}, note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}

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@online{reference.wolfram_2025_findtextualanswer, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={FindTextualAnswer}, year={2020}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FindTextualAnswer.html}, note=[Accessed: 24-March-2025 ]}