h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Base 13, 16, 2 and the Number 42 Explained - A4288584
Author: Tangent - U1658166


I'm very proud of this one! It is very well researched but hurridly written and there may be a number of spelling mistakes.

This factually explains something that even h2g2 posters seem to be confused about - the meaning of everything!

There is a really good entry on number systems already http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/classic/A600427 but it doesn't mention the most useless of all systems base 13.

Perhaps you could change the layout to first refer to the number systems entry then describe base 13. (does it have another name like decimal or hexadecimal?) and then finish off with how base 13 became linked with Douglas Adams storys.

Dan

I agree. As far as I'm concerned, I have a lot more interest in learning how base 13 works than learning the fascinating tidbit about how 6 X 9 = 42 in base 13. The important bit is the more 'academic' bit, in my view.

Hmm... It seems that this one needs a major re-organizing. Author still around?

HELL

PS: If we had 13 fingers base 13 would probably be the most common and useful.

HELL

The authors last post was the one above... another 16 days and he/she has officially Elvised.

That is 13 days in base 13

HELL

Smart arse!

Author has Elvised now. Flea Market? Back to entry?

I move for back to entry.

My mistake, the date on my computer was wrong. Two more days.

Well, besides the misspelling 'physicicists', I would have liked to comment that I felt pretty confident that I knew why DNA chose 42.

Not because of base 13, but because of base 2 or binary: 101010.
In respects to it being 'funny', I saw a few possibilities.
1) DNA may be saying that the universe is a binary, clockwork universe, and not produced by the being that left 'God's last message', whoever that may have been;
2) in computer concepts, the binary code represents on-off-on-off-on-off, which could explain a lot of why the universe is the way it is;
3) it could be an intimation that DNA saw the universe as pretty evenly 'good' and 'bad'.
4) in Octal, 42 (base 10) equals 52, the year that DNA was born.
5) DNA was predicting the end of the universe (or his own demise) on October 10th, 2010.
Could be myriads, but these were what came to mind for me.

I think DNA just picked that number completely randomly. At least, that's what he always said in interviews. It was also his age when his daughter was born, but since he wrote Hitchhiker's long before her birth that can't have had anything to do with it really.

No, but it is a spooky fact

offically vanished ?

Looks like it. Back to entry?

Seconded and added