Recently conducted an experiment, a contextual search in google to search for a content, which are not widely searched for,  but very powerful concept used widely in various application like in google algorithms, credit risk management, economics, bio-physics and etc. I took  “stochastic calculus” as the subject.  It is one of a probability subject used to study the time evolution of a stochastic process/system. With in stochastic calculus, I was taking the specific key word “Kolmogorov forward equation“.  In nut shell, the equation provides the forward time evolution of system given the system is in a state at a given time.

Why this key word was taken?

As you may know, I work for a Financial company and credit risk management is the core competency of any financial company. Even though I’m in IT department, being IT strategy Manager/Chief Architect, understanding how credit risk management works is  not required to do my job. However, I believe, to be successful practical Chief Architect, Chief Architect must know what are the core competencies required to run the business and having a basic understanding of those core competencies are definitely a huge plus. So I started my search experiment with Kolmogorov forward equation specific for actuarial analysis, investment stability analysis (for bonds, investment banks etc) for captive finance company or a consumer bank.

Experiment:

Objective:

Search at least A site with simple, understandable explanation of the equation, various components of the equation and how the equation can be used for actuarial analysis (for auto insurance, wholesale insurance) with a simple real time example.

Steps taken:

Used the cheat sheet I created and narrowed down the search to file type (ie. pdf, ppt, xls and etc) site:.edu, .com and etc. When you look for a basic information, I think, searching only for power point is a wise approach. When someone creates a content in power point, it means it is being explained in an executive level or in high level or in a simpler form. The tip is, when you are looking for a introduction information first search for filetype:ppt.

Even then, as google always provides, I got numerous results back. To minimize the results and receive the most apt content for my search, I did exact keywords where ever necessary. Like “Kolmogorov forward equation”, as one word, filetype:ppt, site:.edu and etc.. (There were various permutation and combination I tried)

Observed Results:

In spite of numerous permutation and combination I was unable to receive the search results I was expecting. Finally, it occurred to me that there may be content available from Universities located in Europe. When I narrowed down my search to site:.uk, I got the result what I was expecting.

Conclusion:

It is my recommendation to google team that they should introduce a new key word like “univ” with qualifier like “asia”, “europe”,”na”, “usa”, “UK”.  Had google had a key word like univ with the suggested qualifier, I would be able to get the most appropriate results back for my search.

New Requirements:

• Introduce new key word “univ” and it will search for all universities in entire world
• Qualifier like “asia”, “na” will narrow down the university content search within Asia, North America and etc
• Qualifier like “USA”, “IN” will narrow down the university content search within USA, India and etc.

The problem is, not all University sites have .edu domain.