Talk:42 Puzzle

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Untitled[edit]

If I photograph the original rendering of the puzzle from the hardcover Illustrated Edition, can I submit that as fair use? It's easier to recognize the submitted "solutions" in that full-sized version. --JohnDBuell | Talk 18:22, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Replaced the prior .jpg of the full puzzle that Morwen tagged as unverified with a photo snapshot of the appropriate pages from the appropriate book. I've released the .jpg/photograph under GFDL, though the puzzle itself still retains a copyright.... --JohnDBuell | Talk 8 July 2005 02:26 (UTC)

This picture looks sorta unprofessional, with the crease in it. It's kinda dull looking too. I remember coming here a while ago, and I think the picture was better. Just sayin'199.224.109.28 22:55, 12 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Considering the original spans two LARGE pages, it's not exactly an easy thing to photograph. --JohnDBuell 02:45, 13 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Earth as computer[edit]

Is the whole universe the computer, or just the earth? 205.217.105.2 17:06, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The Earth, according to the various versions of the story, was designed by a massive supercomputer to be an even MORE massive supercomputer, administered by "hyper-intelligent, pan-dimensional" life forms, on Earth, disguised as mice. The purpose was to determine the Question that matches the Ultimate Answer of Life, the Universe and Everything, which the first computer ("Deep Thought", a name IBM pinched later), determined to be 42. --JohnDBuell | Talk 17:16, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Rules[edit]

How do you actually solve the puzzle? Great background. No idea what the puzzle actually is. --Astronouth7303 00:52, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That was the point. The answer to the puzzle is '42'. But the rules, or the "Question" - those were left unclear, deliberately so. --JohnDBuell | Talk 19:14, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Remake[edit]

There is my remake of drawing of 42 Puzzle. You can solve it by selecting different CMYK channels.

File:42puzzle.jpg

So, there is lack of coincidence: There is some dark blue circles on my variant for better reading 42 in cyan channel.

--Vovka 18:42, 8 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

This link is not functioning.

Solution[edit]

Using an online bar code generator I discovered that the barcode on the original book pages is 42 in Interleaved 2 of 5 encoding. Not has 4 lines with no thick line beside them, and 2 with. --Morganf | Talk 18:11, 28 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Actually, if the rendition above is correct, one could include 4 thin black lines followed by 2 thick white lines. --Joe Sewell 16:27, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, so the rendition above is not correct. Based on the photograph, though, I can see 4 thin black lines, followed by 2 groups of bars, with the first group having 2 thick bars. I am way too bored. --Joe Sewell 16:36, 18 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Updated, now correct. --Vovka 18:46, 8 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Since I'm the one who did the photograph...There are four thin lines, a space, a thick line, thin line, thick line, a space, and a thick like thin line. There are nine lines in all. --JohnDBuell 01:57, 19 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Based on the original photo taken from the book this generated image of 42 matches it exactly [1] --Morganf | Talk 4:11, 5 Dec 2005 (UTC)

Any Douglas fan should remember the quote, "no one does jokes in base 13," so why is there a little reference to this system underneath the "six solutions?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.172.30.136 (talk) 06:09, 14 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

DeadLink[edit]

I'm not getting a response from http://www.douglasadams.se/stuff/qanda.html . Is this a dead link? Webhat 15:45, 14 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It came up for me at home just now.... --JohnDBuell 15:56, 14 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Last three questions[edit]

Has anyone found the last three questions? If there's 10 questions/answers/solutions and there's seven listed on the page, there should be three more to find and list!

The longitude on which the earth in the illustration appears to center, much like a standard atlantic map, is -30 degrees (west). -42 degrees (west) would be discernably different.

A silly guess[edit]

How about this one more question: Where is 42 in the picture? --Luzi82 08:56, 10 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Spoiler warning[edit]

Shouldn't the spoiler warning go at the top of the solutions section rather than at the head of the article? Thryduulf 10:19, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

If someone hasn't read any of the series at all, it could spoil plot points for the first couple of books (or the first radio series, the first tv series, etc). It's probably best where it is now. --JohnDBuell 12:31, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In the spirit of Douglas Adams's love of cricket ...[edit]

Here's another "42 puzzle" of a sort:

   How many laws govern the game of cricket?

Or maybe it's a joke?[edit]

Maybe Douglas Adams now looks down at us and laughs at us-triing to find some meaning in a senseless joke?

Well, he did that a lot when he was still alive. He resented people forming 42 cults and trying to find hidden meanings in his jokes. He used to call such people "A bunch of wankers".

Another Question[edit]

How many orange spheres are on each page of the original puzzle? 4 & 2

Same for white spheres (including the barcode).

I wonder how many questions could be generated from this puzzle if we listed them all. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the answer was...

The idea of generating new questions is an interesting one, since it liekly will go further than the original puzzle planned. Just by glancing I can see two more.

How many columns with white spheres (4) and how many columns without (2)
How many rows with ALL solid spheres (top 4) and how many rows with some non-solid coloured (2)

--Nemo 04:17, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Potential Solutions[edit]

Perhaps we should be a little more cautious when proposing solutions. After all, the answer is 42. Not "4 and 2" or "4 plus 2" or any of that. The six established and accepted solutions (question) lead to a distinct "42" answer. Things like, "What is the product of the number of columns and the number of rows?" is probably not a solution, as it's virtually a duplicate of the first solution, the number of spheres. That said, I want to find more solutions! Sabin4232 (talk) 03:22, 3 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

True - though "42" is commonly written as the number 4, and then the number 2. If they are sequenced as such, then I think it's fair game as a solution. .../Nemo (talk) 00:52, 4 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Letters of the alphabet: M 13 A 1 T 20 H 8 = 42. Chaeo (talk) 02:34, 7 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Significant[edit]

'I think that's terribly significant', says Adams about some people taking him too seriously. And then Wiki winds right up and goes after the questions?

Guess what: that's terribly significant too. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.50.43.23 (talk) 23:57, 3 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Solution:blue*green[edit]

My solution: nr of blue's times nr of green's = 9 times 6 = 42 base 13 (just like in the book). What do you think of it? Spot6224 (talk) 23:49, 13 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

earth orientation[edit]

What about the orientation of the earth? The viewpoint is at about 42 degrees west Spot6224 (talk) 23:51, 13 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merge[edit]

This mini article is really just a broken subsection of the Answer to Life the Universe and Everything article. It could be merged into it with little difficulty. Serendi ^pod ous 11:02, 11 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]