<P> Some readers who were trying to find a deeper meaning in the passage soon noticed that 6 × 9 is actually 42 (as (4 × 13) + 2 = 54, i.e. 54 in decimal is equal to 42 expressed in base 13). When confronted with this, the author claimed that it was a mere coincidence, stating that "I may be a sorry case, but I don't write jokes in base 13 ." </P> <P> In Life, the Universe and Everything, Prak, a man who knows all that is true, confirms that 42 is indeed The Answer, and confirms that it is impossible for both The Answer and The Question to be known in the same universe as they will cancel each other out and take the Universe with them--to be replaced by something even more bizarre (as described in the first theory) and that it may have already happened (as described in the second). Though the question is never found, 42 is the table number at which Arthur and his friends sit when they arrive at Milliways at the end of the radio series . Likewise, Mostly Harmless ends when Arthur stops at a street address identified by his cry of, "There, number 42!" and enters the club Beta, owned by Stavro Mueller (Stavromula Beta). Shortly after, the Earth is destroyed in all existing incarnations . </P> <P> Douglas Adams was asked many times why he chose the number 42 . Many theories were proposed, including that 42 is 101010 in binary code, that light refracts through a water surface by 42 degrees to create a rainbow, that light requires 10 seconds to cross the diameter of a proton . Adams rejected them all . On 3 November 1993, he gave this answer on alt. fan. douglas - adams: </P> <P> The answer to this is very simple . It was a joke . It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one . Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense . I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought' 42 will do' I typed it out . End of story . </P>

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy the answer to life the universe and everything