Question regarding Africa on "Wer wird Millionär?"

[Tintrlvr]

eins? right?  S.Africa....but it's so obvious I fear it must be a trick question.

Some people on FB say the editors gave a wrong answer...

How so?

This is a map showing the Atlantic Ocean: And this is a map showing the Indian Ocean:

Did they say two, including Egypt as well as South Africa? Or three, including France (Mayotte) as well as Egypt and South Africa? Can't think of a country that would make it four, but there are clearly multiple reasonable (if tricky) answers.

[Tintrlvr]

Did they say two, including Egypt as well as South Africa? Or three, including France (Mayotte) as well as Egypt and South Africa? Can't think of a country that would make it four, but there are clearly multiple reasonable (if tricky) answers.

"One" was supposed to be the correct answer, which the candidate eventually chose.
Mayotte is definitely wrong; it only has coasts adjacent to the Indian Ocean.

Edit: Now I know why you included France. However, France is a European country, and in the question they explicitly referred to African countries only.

I think France is at least arguably also an African, South American and Oceanian country, in addition to being a European country. After all, Turkey and Russia are both European countries and Asian countries. The one way to distinguish it is that Mayotte is not on the mainland so not really part of Africa, although I think most people would consider Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles to be African countries.

Edit: Or I guess you could say the question is really asking whether you have an Atlantic coast in Africa, which France does not have, even if France is an African country and has both an Atlantic coast (but outside of Africa) and an Indian Ocean coast (within Africa).

I think "one" is a totally fair answer, excluding the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, but there are at least subtle assumptions involved such that the question is not precise enough to have a definitive answer, where they would have had to count both "two" and "three" as technically correct answers to this particular question also (but it didn't come to that because the candidate chose the answer they intended).

[Tintrlvr]

I think "one" is a totally fair answer, excluding the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, but there are at least subtle assumptions involved such that the question is not precise enough to have a definitive answer, where they would have had to count both "two" and "three" as technically correct answers to this particular question also (but it didn't come to that because the candidate chose the answer they intended).

But why should one exclude the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean?
Egypt must be one correct answer.

What an "ocean" is is not defined in any way other than by convention. It seems reasonable to me to say that the Mediterranean Sea is not part of any ocean or is its own ocean, at least as reasonable as to say that it is part of the Atlantic Ocean.

[Tintrlvr]

I think "one" is a totally fair answer, excluding the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean, but there are at least subtle assumptions involved such that the question is not precise enough to have a definitive answer, where they would have had to count both "two" and "three" as technically correct answers to this particular question also (but it didn't come to that because the candidate chose the answer they intended).

But why should one exclude the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean?
Egypt must be one correct answer.

What an "ocean" is is not defined in any way other than by convention. It seems reasonable to me to say that the Mediterranean Sea is not part of any ocean or is its own ocean, at least as reasonable as to say that it is part of the Atlantic Ocean.

What about the Red Sea? Do you consider it a part of the Indian Ocean?

Again, plausible either way. The Red Sea is somewhat more open to the Indian Ocean, as a percentage of its surface area, than the Mediterranean Sea is to the Atlantic Ocean, but it wouldn't be crazy to distinguish them both from their respective oceans, or even to distinguish one but not the other, because there is no agreed upon definition of "ocean" other than convention.

[Tintrlvr]

Both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are marginal seas, and those aren't usually included in the oceans. in a quiz you should be asking about the conventional definition that normal people learn in school and have a chance to know, not some "technically correct" trickery.

But we learned it that way at school!

The North Sea, the Bay of Biscay and the Caribbean Sea are marginal seas of the Atlantic Ocean.
The Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are inland seas of the same ocean.

The Red Sea is not a marginal sea, btw, but rather an inland sea, like the Persian Gulf is.

are you saying they teach you that the Med is part of the Atlantic Ocean?  That's weird, but if that's true, then the answer should be two if asked in Germany (or anywhere that teaches the Med is part of the Atl).

France can't be an answer because it's European not African.

France is as much of an African country as Turkey or Russia is an Asian country and a European country. It's certainly *also* a European country, but that is neither here nor there. An integral part of France is in Africa, therefore France is an African country. Period.