+Team GPSaxophone Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 I thought that the most famous mathematical question was...... Damm I forgot the question. The answer is 42 though. 6x7 Not even close. Maybe you should actually read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy instead of just googling for answers. CD's hadn't yet been invented when he wrote the book. The second, more powerful computer, came up with 6x7. Quote Link to comment
RiverRat812 Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 actually, that's totally wrong... The second computer didn't come up with 6x7, the mice did. The correct question was "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" And the "off-base" answer was... Forty-Two! Both Deep Thought and the prehistoric men stated that the answer was Forty-two. Of course the real question may have been "When is it OK to throw the Letter Q into a privet bush?" or "Why do I find myself pining for the fjords of Norway?" or "What is so difficult about getting the hang of Thurdays?" Since this is a math thread, here's a little math problem for you... How is 42 the answer to the question? Here's a hint... the base number system is the same number as the number in the name of the encryption method used for all the encrypted text on every geocache page.... Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 actually, that's totally wrong... The second computer didn't come up with 6x7, the mice did. The correct question was "What do you get if you multiply six by nine?" Yes, 6x9 was correct. Somewhere since my last reading of the trilogy I put in the logical answer. Since this is a math thread, here's a little math problem for you... How is 42 the answer to the question? Here's a hint... the base number system is the same number as the number in the name of the encryption method used for all the encrypted text on every geocache page.... Actually, no. From wikipedia.org: However, it was later pointed out that 6 x 9 = 42 if the calculations are performed in base 13, not base 10. Douglas Adams was not aware of this at the time, and has denied that base 13 has anything to do with it. Quote Link to comment
ju66l3r Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 I have read the increasingly incorrectly named "trilogy"...in fact, I read the first three paperbacks I bought so many times that I had to go buy new copies just so they looked nice on the shelf and kept the spineless ones around...to read again. I also went out and snagged Mostly Harmless when it first hit the shelves. Dirk Gently and Dark Tea Time were also two great DNA books, but I only read them from the library. I know that nowhere in the books does the answer conclusively get a question putting this discussion on a somewhat rediculous tilt. I did like the page I found though, because it puts a very humorous twist on the whole thing in a way most people have not thought about the number "42". I also like the computer program in the wikipedia entry on the subject. Essentially if "six" is 1+5 and "nine" is 8+1, and you multiply them in C++ as defined variables: 1 + 5 * 8 + 1, then order of operations has you multiply first and you get.... 42. It's either that or around 3....which it *is* (EST) right now...I believe I'll have some tea. Quote Link to comment
+Limax Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 For some reason I keep remembering it as 6x8, which I know is wrong... so it's a good thing I didn't make a fool of myself yet again. Quote Link to comment
+boulist44 Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 Being British I thought a math was thomething you wipe your feet on. You see, since "math" is only singular and 2 numbers are required for a "math" then it must be plural "MATHS" Q.E.D. Quote Link to comment
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