

Ask HN: Why can't Wolfram Alpha answer which is the largest river in Africa? - lobo_tuerto

It can answer this:
"largest river in mexico"<p>But, can't answer this:
"largest river in africa"
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kookiekrak
Because it doesn't have the data? Mexico is a country, Africa is a continent.

Same as how you can ask largest river in USA but not largest river in North
America

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thequux
However, "contained in" is transitive. It must know that the Nile is in Egypt,
which is in Africa. I suppose the question is whether Mathematica knows about
that transitivity; my bet is that it should; after all it is mathematical
software.

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Nicolas___
Maybe they have per-country data, and since Africa is not a country but a
continent...

