The Race to Insanity and Beyond! - Page 75

bearclaw · #**741** March 1st, 2005, 11:45 PM

hey, getting pretty close, aren't we? I'm away from the Internet for 2 days and the number skyrockets. Cool

NullAshton · #**742** March 2nd, 2005, 12:13 AM

We still have a little more than 250 to go. Keep those posts coming!

Renegade 13 · #**743** March 2nd, 2005, 12:58 AM

42 is the answer to all your questions.

narf poit chez BOOM · #**744** March 2nd, 2005, 01:14 AM

I thought that was the hokey pokey?

douglas · #**745** March 2nd, 2005, 01:20 AM

Quote:

Renegade 13 said:
42 is the answer to all your questions.

Not quite. It's only the answer to "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?"

Oh wait, that's the corrupted version of the question, isn't it.

Kamog · #**746** March 2nd, 2005, 05:15 AM

What is the question? Do you know what the question is?

NullAshton · #**747** March 2nd, 2005, 12:01 PM

The ultimate question that 42 answers is what is 6 times 9?

douglas · #**748** March 2nd, 2005, 12:20 PM

I've read all five books, and I don't think the ultimate question is ever revealed, but there is one attempt to figure it out by having Arthur Dent, the last surviving component of the supercomputer known as Earth that was destroyed 5 minutes before solving the problem, pull scrabble tiles from a bag without looking. They come out in this order: "whatdoyougetwhenyoumultiplysixbynine".

NullAshton · #**749** March 2nd, 2005, 12:52 PM

Yup. But 6 times 9 is NOT 42.

Alneyan · #**750** March 2nd, 2005, 01:47 PM

6 times 9 IS 42. Definitively.

Let's see. Consider the decimal system is no more, and maths abide by something more complicated (like imperial measures compared to the metrical system). If you make this operation in a base 13 system (where 10 means 13 in our own system), 42 is equal to 13X4+2=54, exactly the result of 6X9 in a base 10 system. So, 6X9=42 is perfectly correct, so long as we are in a base 13 system.

If memory serves, the Scrabble board used in the books is only thirteen tiles long, while a standard board has 15 tiles (I think). Therefore, the question can easily be solved. Now, please sit tight while the current universe is destroyed to make way for a zanier universe, as per the First Rule of Universal Physics.