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

The formula is simply this
x.x+x-x
------- = 42
x

so 42.x = x.x+x-x witch equals xsquared so xsquared.x = xcubed so the cubed root of 42 = x x = the basis of the question the question being the basis of Life the universe and everything so the basis of the basis is the simplest possible explanation of life the universe and every thing thus concluding that x = is the true answer to life the universe and everything.
Concluded at Long Island Laboratories 1985-2003
x = ...
3.4760266448864496 !!!!!!!!!!!!

so are you trying to say that 42=3.4?

What are you trying to say? I feel dumber now.

i equals the squar root of -1 one, but that's not really possible. But it's true. So why can't 42 = 3.4760266448864496?!?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the original question was" what do you get when you multiply six by nine." I'm sure that if DNA was around that he would set you all right in half a blinded second!

Im curious as to where you got that formula from. I trust you did not merely pluck it out of thin air...

I'm pretty sure that it was six times seven, because six times nine equals sixty-three.

My theory is that the answer is NOT 42.. but 44, which is basically, love.. give me a few days to get the exact data, since I need to find my old notes on the subject.

I only wanted to post this now, because otherwise I would put it off.

Although if anyone wants to finish it for me, its based on the study of Pi and finding patterns inside the infinite number it represents, if compared to the jewesh Kaballah, you will find that, now, remember, its been a few years since I researched this, so bear with me, father, mother, son and umm.. forget, adds up to the magic number of 44, which is an important number in the search for a pattern in PI.

And what is your family based largely on, but love. In love, we find god, and also everything that is evil, since you can love your family, and love greed, and all the rest of the sins, or just love the unknown.

I'm sure I'm wrong on a few points, for one, I'm in no way a math genius, but if anyone has an idea of the theory I'm speaking of, please feel free to correct me, otherwise I will dig up my old notes and clarify.

Well other then the psycological film noir pi, I know of no reference to the Jewish kaballa and pi. I always assumed it was totally based upon fiction.

I do not mean to sound rude, but you peoples seem to be coming at this from all the wrong angle. The question can't relate to the answer or the universe would drastically change to something stranger.

This first theory is a valid one, yes, but there is another theory which states that this has already happened. If it has and we haven't noticed then if we work out the answer and the question again for wherever we are now (assuming we are not in the same place) then will it change into something even more bizzarly inexplicable AGAIN, or will we actually be able to know about both the question and the answer at the same time this time?

And in case anyone has forgotten there is another theory that says these first two were concocted by a wiley editor of the Hitck-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy in order to increase the level of universal uncertainty and paranoia and so boost the sales of the guide, as it is the only book in the whole of the known universe that has the words 'Don't Panic' inscribed in large friendly letters on the cover?

What is it that the theory actually states?

I do not see how the answer can be found when the question is not being searched out. For example, an answer to a question can only be found if the question is known beforehand. If 2 is the answer, then its only the answer if the question is 1 + 1. If that question has not been contemplated, then 2 is just 2, and not the answer at all.

Questions on the other hand can exist independantly of their answer. Because of this you can never just have the answer, but you *can* just have the question. Therefore; the two states of play must be that either the question is answered, or the question is unanswered.

Because of this, either we have the question ONLY or both the question and the answer. As we have no answer yet, we do not know which state our universe is in.

the original theory states (quoted from the 2nd radio series) that;
'if ever anyone finds out exactly what the universe is for and why it is here it will instantly dissappear and be replaced by something even more bizzarely inexplicable.'

but in regards to yout thoughts about answers not being able to exist without their questions, maybe in the book they were not actually trying to find the question to the ultimate answer, but they were trying to sort of translate it into a simpler form. in the book they asked Deep Thought what the answer to the ultimate question of Life, the Universe and Everyting was, so that was the original question which resulted in the answer '42', and only then did they realise that they had not understood the original question so they built the earth to help them find/understand the question.

this suggestion aside i do agree with what you said about answers not being able to exist without their questions. but remember that it is just fiction after all.

Perhaps questions would not exist were there not these things we refer to as answers, as it is difficult to imagine a definition for the word "question" without somehow tying it to the word answer. Are you able to compose a more-or-less complete definition of "question" without making a reference to "answer" or one of its synonyms?

Oh, and would anyone be interested in me mathematically proving to them that 1 = 2? I didn't come up with it, and in fact have stolen it from my math teacher, but am willing to publicly distribute the explanation to those who are interested. It's really a beautiful thing...

i am interested in how 1 can equal 2. does it involve the multiplication of 0? (e.g. 1x0 = 0 and 2x0 = 0 therefore if you divide both by 0 then 1 = 2) if so that is cheating. if not then do share the explanation, i would love to prove my maths teacher wrong for once.

It does involve Calculus, but there are no hidden divisions by zero or multiplications thereof, as far as I can tell. The following words were quoted exactly from my dearest high school Calc teacher, wonderful resplendent Mr. Crossfield (may all opposing numbers bow down before him!)

"Imagine a series of x's..........like this.....

x + x + x + x + x + .... + x

We can differentiate each term and get a series of ones, like this

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 .... + 1

Now suppose that there were x of those x's in that series. Then we
have differentiated each one of them to get a series of x ones, and the sum of x ones is x.....however, the original series that contained x of those x's, let's look closer at that. Just like 5 sevens makes 35, x x's makes x squared, and the derivative of x^2 is 2x...so our sum is both x and 2x....and they are equal, regardless of the actual value of x, hence 1=2 and other things follow from that."

thanks, i will note that down for future referance.

*notes it down for future referance*

Sure! Did it make sense to you?

Well sort of but the stuff about differentiation and the like confuses a bit. i will show my teacher when we get back to school and see what he says. what year teaches you stuff like that or is it just your teacher?

Well, this was from my high school math teacher. I had him teach me Calculus in my senior year.

Do you know how to differentiate?

never seen that one.

There is a much simpler one though.

infinity*infinity = infinity

= (infinity+1)(infinity-1)
= infinity - infinity + infinity - 1
= infinity - 1
= infinity

Therefore

(infinity+1)*infinity = infinity

Divide both sides by infinity to get:

infinity+1 = 1
infinity = 0