42! One of the drawings found in an atomic fallout shelter on Jikthroom Beta, as seen in the opening of Episode 5 of the TV series. Show
42 (or forty-two) is the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything. This Answer was first calculated by the supercomputer Deep Thought after seven and a half million years of thought. This shocking answer resulted in the construction of an even larger supercomputer, named Earth, which was tasked with determining what the question was in the first place. The Ultimate QuestionThe Earth was destroyed by the Vogons five minutes before its ten-million year program to find the Ultimate Question was due to be completed. One of the only two humans who had survived the destruction of Earth, namely Arthur Dent, pulls random Scrabble tiles from a bag, so as to reveal information in his subconscious (Marvin announced that Arthur had the Question imprinted in his brainwaves). When his friend, Ford Prefect, lines up the tiles, they spell, 'What do you get when you multiply six by nine?' AppearancesThe discovery of forty-two (the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything) appears in every version of the Hitchhiker's story, as does Deep Thought, though with some minor changes. The radio series and bookIn both the radio series and the novel, it is stated that two programmers named Lunkwill and Fook were the ones to turn on Deep Thought and were the first to address it. Then, seven and a half million years later (seventy-five generations later), it was their descendants Loonquawl and Phouchg who were the ones to hear the Answer of forty-two. Loonquawl and Phouchg hearing the Answer forty-two in Episode 4 of the TV series. Deep Thought had warned them that they wouldn't like the answer, and they didn't respond enthusiastically, though Deep Thought pointed out that they had never specified or even known exactly what the Ultimate Question was. This was when Deep Thought decided to design the computer named Earth to figure out this Ultimate Question. The TV seriesIn the television series, the programmers are merely described as 'two men' and neither they nor their ancestors are addressed by name. Some parts of the story leading up to the reveal of the Ultimate Answer are also cut out, but the plot remains the same regarding the reveal by Deep Thought of the answer being forty-two. In the filmDeep Thought revealing the Answer of forty-two in the 2005 film. In the 2005 film, events are quite different. In all of the previous versions of the story, the creation of Deep Thought and the discovery of the Ultimate Answer were shown to Arthur by Slartibartfast via Sens-O-Tape (which allows the beholder to experience the events with all senses), but in the film it was Zaphod Beeblebrox who played a recording of the events instead. In the film, only two of the 'brightest and best' created Deep Thought, and those same two, who are never named, were both the ones to address Deep Thought and, seven and a half million years later, to hear the Ultimate Answer. The sequence is cut down quite a bit, and in the film adaptation the two who created Deep Thought and heard the Answer are implied to be young girls, whereas in all previous versions they were implied to be two men. Behind the scenesThere have been many theories from fans in an attempt to explain why the number 42 was chosen, and what secret meaning it may hold.
Inspiration for the number 42Douglas Adams revealed the reason why he chose forty-two in this message . "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'". He further explained in January 2000, in response to a panelist's "Where does the number 42 come from?" on the radio show "Book Club". Adams explained that he was "on his way to work one morning, whilst still writing the scene, and was thinking about what the actual answer should be". He eventually decided that it "should be something that made no sense whatsoever – a number, and a mundane one at that". He arrived at the number 42, completely at random. Despite Adams stating that he chose the number 42 at random, and that it has no hidden meaning, and his collaborator on 'The Meaning of Liff' and two Hitchhiker's fits, John Lloyd, saying that Adams has called 42 "the funniest of the two-digit numbers"[1], fans still speculate about the 'true' meaning of the number. Cultural references
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Further reading
What does 42 mean in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?The number 42 from Douglas Adams' 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' represents all meaning ('the meaning of life, the universe, and everything') as determined by the fictional supercomputer Deep Thought. The number 42 is not a particularly significant number in base 13.
What is the question where the answer is 42?The number 42 is especially significant to fans of science fiction novelist Douglas Adams' “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,” because that number is the answer given by a supercomputer to “the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.”
Why is 42 the answer to the ultimate question?The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything," calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is.
Why is 42 a perfect number?Answer and Explanation:
No, 42 is not a perfect number. In general, we determine if a number, x, is a perfect number using the following steps: Find the divisors of x.
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