Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

...but What is the Question?

posted by Fnord666 on Monday March 13 2017, @05:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the DNA-is-also-an-author dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Mathematician John Baez presents a delightful and beautifully illustrated version of the ultimate question... http://www.math.ucr.edu/home/baez/42.html for which the answer is 42.

Hint -- it's 2D geometry. And maybe the mice should have been bargaining with Zaphod for his brain instead of for Arthur Dent's brain.

Lots more math & physics fun on his pages, I also enjoyed http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/rolling/

Original Submission

Added Wikipedia link to the text '42' to explain, for the uninitiated, the HHGttG reference. --Bytram
 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
...but What is the Question? | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 15 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Monday March 13 2017, @05:38AM (5 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Monday March 13 2017, @05:38AM (#478318) Journal

    Figured out a long time ago that 6x9=42, in base 13.

    So, Douglas Adams picked 13 for the base of some math? Why 13? Because it's bad luck? The answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is that it was an accident caused by bad luck.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @05:47AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @05:47AM (#478319)

    Or, per the radio play, the Question is the result of the computer after Deep Thought, which Deep Thought helped to design, called "Earth".

  • (Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Monday March 13 2017, @06:51AM

    by maxwell demon (1608) on Monday March 13 2017, @06:51AM (#478324) Journal

    Of course the real question is: "Think of a number. Any number."

    --
    The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @09:08AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @09:08AM (#478342)

    "I may be a sorry case, but I don't write jokes in base 13." -- Douglas Adams

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday March 13 2017, @06:37PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday March 13 2017, @06:37PM (#478560)

      Yup, it's like rationalizing a shrubbery or the cutting of a tree with a herring.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @10:24AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 13 2017, @10:24AM (#478354)

    #define SIX 1+5
    #define NINE 8+1