what is the answer 42 about in the question what is the meaning of life?!?

Answer 1

This comes from the excellent book, The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. It is the first book in his 5 part trilogy. In it, a super computer (called Deep Thought) is built to do all of the necessary calculations to answer the Ultimate Question to Life the Universe and Everything. It spends nearly 5 million years to do this work. Finally when it is done, the computer announces with finality that the Answer to the Ultimate Question to Life the Universe and Everything is.... 42.

That's when the people that built the computer realize, that they may not actually know what the QUESTION actually is. Of course, even though Deep Thought figured out the answer, it doesn't know the question either, and designs another computer to be built to figure out the answer. This computer is--- the Earth.

Read this book. It is easily one of the most hilarious pieces of literature ever written.

Answer 2

6 x 9 = 42 to the power 13

Answer 3

It's from The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. A supercomputer (called Deep Blue I think) is created to find the answer to 'Life, the Universe, and Everything'. After many many years (possibly thousands, I can't remember) Deep Blue announces that the answer is 42. To this everyone replied "Well, if 42 is the answer, what's the actual question?" Deep Blue said he was not intelligent to work it out, but he would create a bigger better computer which could work it out. This computer was called Earth, and was placed third from the sun in The Milky Way.


Unfortunately everyone else mistook Earth for a planet, and mere hours before it was due to announce what the question was, it was destroyed o make way for a new space highway.

So no-one actally knows what the question is.

Answer 4

It's a quote from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" which was a BBC radio show and later published as a book, with sequels. In the book, the mice commission a high-tech alien civilisation to set up an experiment to find the meaning of life. Earth is part of it. So is a super dooper computer, which processes the question for ages, and then comes up with the answer "42". Which, you see, isn't much help. Great book, as are others by the late Douglas Adams. They became a kind of satirical cult.

Answer 5

Get a life get out more everybody knows that 42 is just after 41 and before 43 i think hum 1 2 3 4 lol

Answer 6

It's a conceit in the Douglas Adams "Trilogy in four parts" "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". The massive computer Deep Thought was made to find the Ultimate Answer "the meaning of life... the universe... and everything" (forty-two) but then they had to make a bigger one to figure out what the Ultimate Question was. They never did work it out, but came up with a few substitutes that might fly, including "How many roads must a man walk down".
The computer designed to find the Ultimate Question was corrupted, but the answer it came up with was "what do you get if you multiply seven by nine".

Answer 7

It was the question asked of the largest IBM computer some time ago. It came up with 42 as the answer.

Answer 8

I calculate it last day and it was 43 - seems like someone mistake the number in the original
Please start to think it for 43 , 42 is a wrong one. :P

Well - meaning of life is CREATION whatever form and shape it is - this is the original meaning after me ...

Answer 9

It was the answer given by the greatest computer ever made in the FICTIONAL "Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and its sequels by Douglas Adams.
It was the answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything, and as I recall once the answer was given, the question then had to be found.
The point was that it had no point. That was his style of humour.

I would be fascinated to know if there is much more to it than that!!!!

Answer 10

Read the book Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy or see the movie, I personally think the scenery is always better in the book than in any film.