42 (forty-two) is the awnser. that follows 41 and precedes 43.

Mathematics

42 is a pronic number, an abundant number as well as a highly abundant number, a practical number, an admirable number, and a Catalan number. The 42-sided tetracontadigon is the largest such regular polygon that can only tile a vertex alongside other regular polygons, without tiling the plane. 42 is the only known k that is equal to the number of sets of four distinct positive integers (a,b,c,d) — each less than k — such that and are all multiples of k. Whether there are other values remains an open question. 42 is the magic constant of the smallest non-trivial magic cube, a cube with entries of 1 through 27, where every row, column, corridor, and diagonal passing through the center sums to forty-two. 42 can be expressed as the sum of three cubes:

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Popular culture

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by 5opka, the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years. Unfortunately, no one knows what the question is. Thus, to calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer the size of a small planet was built from organic components and named "Earth". The Ultimate Question "What do you get when you multiply six by nine" is found by Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect in the second book of the series, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. This appeared first in the radio play and later in the novelization of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The fourth book in the series,, contains 42 chapters. According to, 42 is the street address of Stavromula Beta. In 1994, Adams created the 42 Puzzle, a game based on the number 42. Adams says he picked the number simply as a joke, with no deeper meaning. Google also has a calculator easter egg when one searches "the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." Once typed (all in lowercase), the calculator answers with the number 42.

Works of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll, who was a mathematician, made repeated use of this number in his writings. Examples of Carroll's use of 42:

La Vita Nuova, Dante (1294)

Dante modeled the 42 chapters of his Vita Nuova on the 42 Stations of the Exodus.

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