minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) (09/15/85)
** Spoiler warning -- the following should not be read unless you ** have already read Douglas Adam's Hitch-hiker's Guide to the ** Galaxy. A recent questioner asked what was the significance of the number 42 (given in Hitch-Hiker's as the answer to the question about Life, the Universe, and Everything). According to the book, this is what you get when you multiply 6 times 9. According to someone who asked the author at a Science-Fiction convention, the British Medical Society recommends that a woman refrain from sexual intercourse for six weeks after giving birth. Martin Minow decvax!minow
gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) (09/17/85)
> According to someone who asked the author at a Science-Fiction convention, > the British Medical Society recommends that a woman refrain from > sexual intercourse for six weeks after giving birth. Probably an attempt to keep the population under control. What is this silly subject doing in net.math??
percus@acf4.UUCP (Allon G. Percus) (09/18/85)
> What is this silly subject doing in net.math??
Trying to explain how 6 x 9 = 42.
A. G. Percus
(ARPA) percus@acf4
(NYU) percus.acf4
(UUCP) ...!ihnp4!cmcl2!acf4!percusjudith@proper.UUCP (Judith Abrahms) (09/24/85)
In article <> gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) writes: >> According to someone who asked the author at a Science-Fiction convention, >> the British Medical Society recommends that a woman refrain from >> sexual intercourse for six weeks after giving birth. > >Probably an attempt to keep the population under control. >What is this silly subject doing in net.math??
judith@proper.UUCP (Judith Abrahms) (09/24/85)
In article <> gwyn@brl-tgr.ARPA (Doug Gwyn <gwyn>) writes: >> According to someone who asked the author at a Science-Fiction convention, >> the British Medical Society recommends that a woman refrain from >> sexual intercourse for six weeks after giving birth. > >Probably an attempt to keep the population under control. >What is this silly subject doing in net.math?? The original article quoted in part by gwyn gives Doug Adams' explanation of his choice of 42 as the answer to the question, "What do you get when you multiply 6*9?" Adams' remark about the six weeks of restraint can best be viewed in terms of two variables, M and F. Adams implies that under normal (i.e., not post-partum) circumstances, in six weeks M would go into F 42 times, i.e., 6*7. However, just after F has given birth, sexual intercourse would cause M and F to multiply. Therefore '6*9', not 6*7, is the correct answer for this situation. If this isn't clear enough, post the whole article to net.flame and ask the folks there what it sounds like to them. Hope this clears everything up. Judith Abrahms {ucbvax,ihnp4}!dual!proper!judith
chas@gtss.UUCP (Charles Cleveland) (09/26/85)
In article <5980001@acf4.UUCP> percus@acf4.UUCP (Allon G. Percus) writes: >> What is this silly subject doing in net.math?? > >Trying to explain how 6 x 9 = 42. > A. G. Percus > (ARPA) percus@acf4 > (NYU) percus.acf4 > (UUCP) ...!ihnp4!cmcl2!acf4!percus I haven't been paying attention to this discussion lately, and maybe this is in "Hitchhiker's Guide", but 6 x 9 = 42 in base 13. -- Charles Cleveland Georgia Tech Surface Studies Georgia Tech School of Physics Atlanta, GA 30332 ...!{akgua,allegra,amd,hplabs,ihnp4,masscomp,ut-ngp}!gatech!gtss!chas ...!{rlgvax,sb1,uf-cgrl,unmvax,ut-sally}!gatech!gtss!chas chas%gtss@gatech.CSNET gtss!chas%gatech.CSNET@csnet-relay.ARPA