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42

Numbers make a vast eternal ocean that one can dive deep into, to end up spending a lifetime but still not done with these intriguing elements.


Today, I came across a very interesting story associated with the seemingly ordinary number 42.

Four decades ago, American author and satirist Douglas Adams set the world on a frenzy with his eccentric but interesting answer to the question penultimate - life, the universe, and everything. What do you think the answer would have been? None other than the ordinary number 42.


The number 42 has ever since posed a vast opportunity for research for puzzled mathematicians, scientists and geeks alike. If Adams says the number 42 could unlock the secrets of the universe, it boils to the question - Why does specifically the number 42 hold the secret behind the universe?


This still has so many netizens scratching their heads and debates without an absolute answer, even after almost two decades post his death. Many actually came up with what they thought could be the answer to this baffling question.

Although it is reported the author himself had said,"The answer to this is very simple," Adams said. "It was a joke. It  had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one.  Binary representations, base 13, Tibetan monks are all complete  nonsense. I sat on my desk, stared in to the garden and thought 42 will  do. I typed it out. End of story.", so many other people like me find it quite interesting. So, like any other intrigued kid would, I wanted to interpret this in my own way. (lest this question haunt me and keep me up at night)

My interpretation is that this phenomenon of 42 can be interpreted in infinite ways.

Of Adams' answer, I perceive 42 to be merely another representative of the answer behind life, the universe and everything (such as the case in infinity, where the lemniscate is used to represent the infinite value), for there is no such ultimate secret of the universe. Life, the Universe and everything has no defined definition. There are so many ways to interpret these phenomena. Anything can be considered the answer.

I also think zero could be the actual value of the Universe. The Universe has remained undefined, for everyone has a definition of their own. A spoiled brat and a child stuck in poverty might not define life the same way. In other words, life and the Universe does not have definition into which all aspects can fit.

The value zero can be achieved through infinite equations. It is nothing but still everything, unquantifiable, nothing on its own but adds value to everything, obvious but still perplexing. The same can be applied with the Universe. 

While nothing more than a joke remains in this question, feel free to let me know how you interpret it. 


To know more about this hilarious accident, search Google for the answer to life, the Universe and everything.


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