From: protonen@daimi.aau.dk (Lars J|dal)
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams
Subject: Re: 6*9=42(13)
Date: 28 Aug 92 09:36:16 GMT
Organization: DAIMI: Computer Science Department, Aarhus University, Denmark

hermit@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (Ron O'Dell) writes:

>Gordon Bennett, here we go again.
>   The fact that 6 x 9 = 42 base 13 means nothing with regard to
>   this series, because the Answer is written and spoken `forty-two'.
>    42 base 13 is >not< `forty-two'.
>Bloody hell!
>Sorry ...
>-- 
>--- keeper@deeptht.armory.com (Ron O'Dell)   Do >not< mail hermit!
>					     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

etc, etc...

Does this has to be such a problem? IMHO `forty-two' and `six times
nine' are pretty unrelated IN THE BOOK.

To support my humble opinion I give some quotes from `The Restaurant
at the End of the Universe' (chapter 33) where Arthur and Ford has
crashed on prehistoric Earth along with the `What-colour-should-the-
wheel-be?' people.

	`Why does he keep banging on the rock?' said Arthur.
	`I think he probably wants you to Scrabble with him again,'
	said Ford, `he's pointing at the letters.'
	`Probably spelt crzjgrdwldiwdc again, poor bastard. I keep
	on telling him there's only on g in crzgrdwldiwdc.'
	The native banged on the rock again.
	They looked over his shoulder.
	Their eyes popped.
	There amongst the jumble of letters were eight that had
	been laid out in a clear straight line.
	They spelt two words.
	The words were these:
	`FORTY-TWO.'
	`Grrrurgh guh guh,' explained the native. He swept the
	letters angrily away and went and mooched under a nearby
	tree with his colleague.

	[...]

	`You know what this means,' said Ford.
	`Not entirely.'
	`Forty-two is the number Deep Thought gave as being the
	Ultimate Answer.'
	`Yes.'
	`And the Earth is the computer Deep Thought designed and
	built to calculate the Question to the Ultimate Answer.'
	`So we are led to believe.'
	`And organic life was part of the computer matrix.'
	`If you say so.'
	`I do say so. That means that these natives, these apemen,
	are an integral part of the computer program, and that we
	and the Golgafrinchans are _not_.'
	`But the cavemen are dying out and the Golgafrinchans are
	obviously set to replace them.'
	`Exactly. So you do see what this means.'
	`What?'
	`Cock-up,' said Ford Prefect.
	Arthur looked around him.
	`This planet is having a pretty bloody time of it,' he said.
	Ford puzzled for a moment.
	`Still, something must have come out of it,' he said at
	last, `because Marvin said he could see the Question printed
	in your brainwave patterns.'
	`But...'
	`Probably the wrong one, or a distortion of the right one.
	It might give us a clue though if we could find it. I don't
	see how we can though.'

	[...]

	Arthur picked up one of the letter stones from his home-made
	Scrabble set. [...] His brain got slowly into first gear.
	`Ford,' he said suddenly, `look, if that Question is printed
	in my brainwave patterns but I'm not consciously aware of it
	it must be somewhere in my unconscious.'
	`Yes, I suppose so.'
	`There might be a way of bringing that unconscious pattern
	forward.'
	`Oh yes?'
	`Yes, by introducing some random element that can be shaped
	by the pattern.'
	`Like how?'
	`Like by pulling Scrabble letters out of a bag blindfold.'

	[...]

	`I, F,' said Ford, `Y, O, U ... M, U, L, T, I, P, L, Y ...
	What do you get if you multiply ... S, I, X ... six ... B, Y,
	by, six by ... what do you get if you multiply six by ...
	N, I, N, E ... six by nine ...' He paused. `Come on, where's
	the next one?'
	`Er, that's the lot,' said Arthur, `that's all there were.'
	He sat back, nonplussed.
	He rooted around again in the knotted up towel but there
	were no more letters.
	`You mean that's it?' said Ford.
	`That's it.'
	`Six by nine. Forty-two.'
	`That's it. That's all there is.'

Well, I guess you see my point without further babbling. So, unless you
enjoy verbal fight, I see no reason to continue the discussion about
the subject.

PS: Sorry for the rather long post, but you just can't stop when you're
    quoting Douglas Adams :-)

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Lars J|dal                  | Q: What's the difference between a quantum |
| email: protonen@daimi.aau.dk|    mechanic and an automechanic?           |
|                             | A: A quantum mechanic can get his car into |
| Aarhus University           |    the garage without opening the door.    |
| Denmark                     |                    -- David Kra            |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Newsgroups: alt.fan.douglas-adams