What is the significance of the number 42?

Gnomon

In the radio series and books, 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' by the late Douglas Adams, 42 was found to be the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. Unfortunately, it was not known exactly what the question was, so nobody is any the wiser. Jun 21 01, 7:39 AM

Brainy Blonde

Gnomon is correct. Unfortunately, Douglas Adams recently passed away in May of this year. If you would like more information about this and his other books, a good starting point is www.floor42.com At www.quotegeek.com you will find many quotes from Adams and his books. One, he refers to how tired he is of being asked what 42 means. Much like Carly Simon and Your So Vain I would think! Jun 21 01, 11:25 AM

l3i7l

Gnomon is correct. I just wish to add a bit more to our knowledge here. Readers learn at the end of book 3, 'Life, The Universe and Everything': '... the Question and the Answer are mutually exclusive. Knowledge of one logically precludes knowledge of the other. It is impossible that both can ever be known about in the same universe. ... Except, if it happened, it seems that the Question and the Answer would just cancel each other out, and take the universe with them.' and as Gnomon said nobody would be any wiser... Jun 22 01, 1:26 AM

Dreamer61dpl

At a speaking engagement in my city in the 1980's, Douglas Adams admitted that he just picked the number 42 out of a hat (so to speak) and that it had no significant value in real life. He continued to maintain this position in the face of several Hitchhiker fans arguing with him that THEY had figured out the significance of 42, pretty much stopping just short of telling them to 'Get a life!' (a la William Shatner on SNL). Jun 23 01, 5:08 PM

GOSTEELERS

its the meaning of life in "The hichichers guide to the Galaxy" Jun 26 09, 5:18 PM