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The Biggest Fundamental Questions That ‘42’ Really Is The Answer To

We’re still not sure what the ultimate question is. Here are 5 excellent candidates.

Touted as the answer to the ultimate question about life, the Universe, and everything, 42 plays an important role not only in popular culture, specifically through Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but in physics and mathematics as well. Too bad we’re still not sure what the question is. (MARTINULTIMA & HABITATOR TERRAE / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)

The Biggest Fundamental Questions That ‘42’ Really Is The Answer To

We’re still not sure what the ultimate question is. Here are 5 excellent candidates.

Ethan Siegel

Oct 1 · 9 min read

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One of the most amusing stories in all of science fiction is Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, where a supercomputer is tasked with uncovering “the answer.” Allegedly designed to give the answer to the ultimate question about life, the Universe, and everything, the computer spends 7.5 million years calculating what the answer would be, and finally spits it out: 42. Only, when the answer is finally revealed, no one can remember what “the ultimate question” actually was.

Fortunately, there are a number of fundamental questions in both math and physics that do have 42 as their answer. Could any of them have passed for the ultimate question about life, the Universe, and everything? Although no one can be sure — even in this fictional world — these five possibilities are among the most fascinating. Here are five fascination questions for which 42 truly is the correct answer.