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

The Question for the answer 42 was not "What is the product of 6 times 7". You got it totally WRONG! The question is "What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9" which was discovered when Arthur Dent threw down some scrabble peices at random onto prehistoric Earth when he was trying to help the apes learn english. Those actually were the only letters he made, but they were thrown down at random and appeared "What do you get when you multiply six by nine" which is... Forty-two!!!

And to add further corrections, the scrabble pieces were not thrown down but pulled out of a bag at random. As we all know, six times nine is not 42. But this is in The Restaraunt at the End of the Universe when, after Arthur suggests that the answer might be in his brainwaves even though he is technically a Golgafrinchan, Ford says "Probably the wrong one, or a distortion of the right one." And the question was, indeed, wrong. However, it gives a clue to the real question, which is probably 6 times 7.

I have a problem with the idea that 6*9 cannot equal 42. This is assuming that humans have always had the correct answer... as if 6 has always been six, and 9 has always been nine. Perhaps we have been wrong the entire time... and the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything is "What do you get when you multiply 6 by 9?" signifying the error of our entire lives, and that we need to reconsider all our knowledge and repair it.

As someone once mantioned to DNA, 6 X 9 = 42 in base 13.
He responded he didn't write jokes in base 13.

hello and welcome 2 h2g2
i c that u must like maths ha ha
i had 2 look at that post 2 times, as all i saw was numbers
hope u r finding your way around here ok.
if u need ne help, then i will try and help
4 now

But seriously, as far as H2G2 is concerned, why did DNA pick 42 and/or 6 x 9 ? Was 42 significant to him at the time, or was 6 x 9? Or is it just a joke because the answer doesn't "fit"?
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