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

6 x 9 =42 Post: 1Posted 2 Weeks Ago by Hardenbergh
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To whom may care,
Doesn't it seem to any other readers that the question for the answer 42
was definitively answered in the second book? When Ford and Arthur on
prehistoric earth pull letters out of the scrabble bag to get "What do you
get when you multiply six by nine?"
And that this seemingly nonsensical answer of 54 _*does_* have a bigger
meaning?
Which is that 6 x 9 = 54 is the answer using base ten; if we were to try to
think outside of our earthly box, base ten would be seen as terribly
parochial. We use it because we have evolved ten fingers.
So if one uses base thirteen, 6 x 9 = 42.
That works as an ok answer. If i want the ultimate meaning i gotta shift my
familiar frame of reference, eh?
Don't forget to breathe.