NationStates Jolt Archive

WTF IS 42 SUPPOSED TO MEAN?

Seriously, I'm only closing in on the end of "The Restaurant at the Edge of the Universe" and I still don't get it!

Unless it was never meant to be answered, either way don't you dare tell me ANYTHING more than what happened on page 201 and down!

What do you get when you multiply six by nine?

...


you telling me that that's the question? That's REALLY REALLY REALLY the question?

That's REALLY REALLY REALLY the question?

Yup.

well damn, that just raises MORE questions!
but my curiosity is satisfied

My friends have explained this to me...

In something they refer to as "Base-13," six times nine does equal forty-two.

Therefore, this implies that the Universe is actually in "Base-13" (whereas we use "Base-10").

This is very simple: 42 is the ultimate answer to the ultimate question about life, the universe and everything!


I dont think that was spoiling?

My friends have explained this to me...

In something they refer to as "Base-13," six times nine does equal forty-two.

Therefore, this implies that the Universe is actually in "Base-13" (whereas we use "Base-10").

That may be infered, but the only conclusion reached in the HHGTTG is:
“You know, I've always felt that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Universe."

Horse's Mouth:

http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?selm=adamsd.1102700746A%40news.cerf.net&output=gplain

42 so fricken rocks!! I luv 42!! Go answer to life, the universe and everything!!

42 is the number of planets + moons in our solar system discovered at the time of the writing of the hitch hiker's guide.

42, the answer to life, the universe and everything, is wrong.

There is one appearance of the number '42' in the last novel of the series which might hint at another question ;-)

Adams always claimed the base-13 was coincidental. But since he's dead we'll never know for sure..

360 is the best #

And so far everyone to suggest an alternative answer to the one here is wrong.

See, the real reason that it's the answer is because Douglas Addams said so. There is no other reason. He had to think of an answer, and 42 just popped into his head. The reason that this is the right answer is because he said so, and he wrote the book. and no-one else, surprisingly. So the answer was whatever he wanted it to be.

That's it. Stop trying to read the blanks inbetween these particular lines.


(and ten points if you guess that I'm not taking this entirely seriously, but I'm still right.)

Douglas Adams has become a legend, and if we can't take the word of a legend to be true, well....

42 IS the answer and will be so until someone who can write a hilarious series of books does so and with much irrelevance proves otherwise.

What do you get when you multiply six by nine?
you sure that isnn't six by seven?

Green israel - read the whole thread please.

[QUOTE=Bodies Without Organs]What do you get when you multiply six by nine?QUOTE]
you sure that isnn't six by seven?
or seven by 6

:P

Green israel - read the whole thread please.
oh right, base 13. but every wrong math could be right in other base. If he don't said that himself, It just coincidence.
I read only the first book, and then I stopped.

And so far everyone to suggest an alternative answer to the one here is wrong.

See, the real reason that it's the answer is because Douglas Addams said so. There is no other reason. He had to think of an answer, and 42 just popped into his head. The reason that this is the right answer is because he said so, and he wrote the book. and no-one else, surprisingly. So the answer was whatever he wanted it to be.

That's it. Stop trying to read the blanks inbetween these particular lines.


(and ten points if you guess that I'm not taking this entirely seriously, but I'm still right.)Actually, I remember DNA saying that he effectively asked people he knew whether (say) 36 was funnier than 29, and gradually honed in on 42 as being the funniest number of them all.

Say it to yourself several times... "Forty-Two" "For ty two" "Fo' ti' tu-" See how vowels go low-high-low, that last slightly lower than the first, which is the basis of themes found in many musical compositions, although the... erm... pre-mice people's initial reaction of "Fo' ti tu/?" (with the final vowel higher-pitched) was even funnier and echos more comedic scores. Very well acted and memorable, IMHO... The consonential sounds "F T T" mirror nicely the 'sustaning' or otherwise of the " ' ' - " (my notation for "short short long") which is emphasised further...

Now try the same with "Thirty-nine", "Twenty-one", "Ninety-nine"... The latter has some poetry to it (though I personally prefer the rhythm of the French equivalent...) , but is just too repetative, much as "Eleven" might be considered (for slightly different reasons), and double-numbers are just two obvious on so many levels anyway. "Forty-Two" just sounds right. Maybe because 42 was the comedic answer I've been able to justify it (call it variant on the Weak Anthropic Principle, if you will :)) but it just seems so obvious to me...


Anyway, there's also a good chance that DNA himself believed multiple versions of the story at different times. After all, after a while it all starts to get lost in the mists of time when every interviewer under the sun asks him over and over and over again why that number, and "it seemed like a good idea at the time" doesn't usually satisfy so you mumble about "it sounded funnier" or "someone told me the other day it was surprisingly similar to <whatever>" or "it was the page in the dictionary with the first rude word on it" or whatever it was. (Note that all those answers are my inventions, I don't intend to misquote the man himself... )

And, apart from the base-13 answer, in binary, 42 (decimal) is 101010, but I don't believe that was ever canon, just fanon...

oh right, base 13. but every wrong math could be right in other base.Nearly. Sometimes you have to use irrational non-whole bases to make it work and 'cheat' by having the digit '4' in the units of base-Pi (not that there's usually any reason for it to be as cleanly convenient as Pi, it's often a lot more irregular) where in reality this would translate to a base-Pi representation of 10.2201, added to whatever other digits exist.

Sorry, I've just spent the occasional hour experimenting with this sort of thing. Nothing to see here. Move along... :)

I'm afraid we will never know the question because, as hinted in the books, the question and the answer are mutually exclusive. If someone would know both at the same time, it is extrapolated that the universe would end and another one would be created.

you sure that isnn't six by seven?

Yes, that may give you the answer, but it isn't the question.

And yet no one has yet pointed out the interesting point of the question. The question is not "What is six multiplied by nine?", but instead is "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?". My belief is that the mice were taking into account the reader's mathimaical ineptness and factoring it into the question, thus the Universe is not fundementally wrong.

My belief is that the mice were taking into account the reader's mathimaical ineptness and factoring it into the question, thus the Universe is not fundementally wrong.

This theory falls down because both Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were able to immediately see that something was "fundamentally wrong".

Age that Elvis was when he died.
Probably also his weight in stones, by the size of him.

Age that Elvis was when he died.
Probably also his weight in stones, by the size of him.


http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?selm=adamsd.1102700746A%40news.cerf.net&output=gplain

In Article <2b4asr$b7r@syzygy.socs.uts.edu.au>, mjcherka@socs.uts.EDU.AU
(Mark J Cherkas) wrote:
>
>I am new to this group so bear with this beginners question:
>Why is the answer 42 ?
>Has Douglas Adams ever explained this ?
>
>

The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an
ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations,
base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk,
stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story.

Best,

Douglas Adams

This theory falls down because both Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect were able to immediately see that something was "fundamentally wrong".
Ah, but neither Dent nor Prefect were paying the mice. The question was not geared towards them, instead they were merely part of the machinery proving the answer (well Dent at least, I'm not sure Prefect was part of the Mices' calculationa, something not made clear in the cannonical history although I am sure somewhere in the apocraphia someone has stated a clear answer).

you sure that isnn't six by seven?

Yes...that's the point.

Ah, but neither Dent nor Prefect were paying the mice. The question was not geared towards them, instead they were merely part of the machinery proving the answer (well Dent at least, I'm not sure Prefect was part of the Mices' calculationa, something not made clear in the cannonical history although I am sure somewhere in the apocraphia someone has stated a clear answer).

No, Dent was part of the machinery of the calculation, and thus the question is embedded within him, so it was him that drew the scrabble letters out of the bag, not Ford Prefect. Anyhow, your whole argument seems to hinge on the fact that their could exist multiple different questions (and probably answers), and that is clearly not the case - it is the answer and the questiopn, not an answer and a question...


... of course, later books, if you accept them, demolish the whole earth-destroyed malarky anyhow, but I prefer to stick to the storyline of the original two radio series as that is the version I grew up with.

The fact that 42 is the answer to the question is basically just a statement that there is no real purpose for the universe. That it is just there. And the fact that the question itself if 6*9 is also part of that. The universe is not some neat and organized thing. It is not going according to a plan. It's just there for...this is really hard for some people...absolutely no reason at all. At least that's what Adam's is saying (in my opinion). I disagree with this general idea, but hey.

No, Dent was part of the machinery of the calculation, and thus the question is embedded within him, so it was him that drew the scrabble letters out of the bag, not Ford Prefect. Anyhow, your whole argument seems to hinge on the fact that their could exist multiple different questions (and probably answers), and that is clearly not the case - it is the answer and the questiopn, not an answer and a question...
Well, the question of Prefect being part of the machinery for the calculation is up in the air. While not part of the Earth machinery, his interactions with Dent doubtless had an effect on the formulations of the question, for without Prefect's intervention Dent wouldnever have drawn the tiles in the first place. That raises the issue of whether or not Prefect's involvement was figured in by the mice into thier calculations as part of the machine to find the question? Nonetheless, the question was not adresssed to either Prefect or Dent, but instead to the supercomputer.

We will never know why 42 is the answer. Why? The answer and the question are mutually exclusive. Go and read the five book trilogy. If the question and the answer existed in the same universe, that universe would be ripped to shreds by the cataclysmic absurdity of the reality of life.

Well, the question of Prefect being part of the machinery for the calculation is up in the air. While not part of the Earth machinery, his interactions with Dent doubtless had an effect on the formulations of the question, for without Prefect's intervention Dent wouldnever have drawn the tiles in the first place. That raises the issue of whether or not Prefect's involvement was figured in by the mice into thier calculations as part of the machine to find the question? Nonetheless, the question was not adresssed to either Prefect or Dent, but instead to the supercomputer.
But what does it all matter anyway - the Vogons traversed parallel universes in a bid to destroy every single Earth, and Dent is dead. So we'll never knoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!

We will never know why 42 is the answer. Why? The answer and the question are mutually exclusive. Go and read the five book trilogy. If the question and the answer existed in the same universe, that universe would be ripped to shreds by the cataclysmic absurdity of the reality of life.

and many think this has already happened at least once.

But what does it all matter anyway - the Vogons traversed parallel universes in a bid to destroy every single Earth, and Dent is dead. So we'll never knoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow!
unless we ask the guy who swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth while under the influence of a powerful drug.

Note: it is in the 42nd minute of the movie that the aliens show up in "Life of Brian". As some of you are aware, Douglas did quite a bit of work with the Pythons, especially during their final TV season.

5, 23 and 17 are the only numbers worth any importance

<snip>...That raises the issue of whether or not Prefect's involvement was figured in by the mice into thier calculations as part of the machine to find the question? Nonetheless, the question was not adresssed to either Prefect or Dent, but instead to the supercomputer.Am I wrong, or weren't the mice merely the beings who built Deep Thought and commissioned the Earth, as designed by Deep Thought and built by the Golgafrinjans (sp?), because while Deep Thought came up with the original answer '42', this then essentially became the question to which the question would be the answer which would have been answered (but instead was questioned) at the conclusion of the calculation...

IYSWIM...

What a fun thread! Adams was great! Thanks everyone.

(I decided not to say what I was going to say, so I said this instead)

It's meant to be meaningless it's a joke from a joke book. You're ot meant to read too much into it.

It's meant to be meaningless it's a joke from a joke book. You're ot meant to read too much into it.
or is it? or did he?

I just wanted to be the 42nd reply!! I love 42!!!

There is one appearance of the number '42' in the last novel of the series which might hint at another question ;-)

Adams always claimed the base-13 was coincidental. But since he's dead we'll never know for sure..

It's not even a particularly surprising coincidence. If the question had been "What is six times eleven?" the answer, 66, would be 42 in base 16.