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I assume 42 is a joke from deep history and The Hitchhiker’s Guide. Pretty amusing to read the Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_(number) https
by robwwilliams 2y ago
I assume 42 is a joke from deep history and The Hitchhiker’s Guide. Pretty amusing to read the Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_(number) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/42_(number)
- sedatk 2y agoDouglas Adams picked 42 randomly though. :)
- robertlagrant 2y agoNot at all. It was derived mathematically from the Question: What do you get if you multiply six by nine?
- sedatk 2y agoI stand corrected in base 13.
- eterm 2y agoIt was just a joke, and doubly so the fact it "works" in base 13. It was written as a joke in fairly ramshackle radio play. He had no idea at the time of writing it that the joke would connect so well and become it's own "thing" and dominate discourse of the radio series and novels to come. It's not a joke about numbers, it's a linguistical joke, that works well on radio, something that HHGTG is stuffed full of. https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/12229/how-did-douglas-adams-choose-the-ultimate-question https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/12229/how-did-doug...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- HappMacDonald 2y agoThat's not the question, though. Everybody knows that the question is the one posed to Mister Turtle and Mister Owl which neither of them can find the answer to.