The Number 42

FORTY-TWO (42) and its significance (please read all the way to the bottom!)

In mathematics

* Given 27 same-size cubes whose nominal values progress from 1 to 27, a 3×3×3 magic cube can be constructed such that every row, column, and corridor, and every diagonal passing through the center, comprises 3 cubes whose sum of values is 42.
* It is the sum of the totient function for the first eleven integers.
* It is the third pentadecagonal number. It is a meandric number and an open meandric number.
* 42 is a perfect score on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO) and International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).

In science

* The atomic number of molybdenum.
* The angle in degrees for which a rainbow appears or the critical angle.
* In 1966, mathematician Paul Cooper theorized that the fastest, most efficient way to travel across continents would be to bore a straight hollow tube directly through the Earth, connecting a set of antipodes, evacuate it (remove the air), and then just fall through. The first half of the journey consists of free-fall acceleration, while the second half consists of an exactly equal deceleration. The time for such a journey works out to be 42 minutes. Remarkably, even if the tube does not pass through the exact center of the Earth, the time for a journey powered entirely by gravity always works out to be 42 minutes, as long as the tube remains friction-free, as while gravity's force would be lessened, so would the distance traveled at an equal rate.

In technology

* Magic numbers used by programmers:
o The glyph, or character, corresponding to the number 42 in the ASCII character set, is *, the asterisk, commonly known as the wildcard character.
* 42 is the result given by the web search engines Wolfram Alpha, Google and Microsoft's Bing when the query "the answer to life the universe and everything" is entered as a search.
* One of Advanced Micro Devices' Overlocking CPU was named Phenom 42, with the number being partially from the book The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.
* Tiling a plane using regular hexagons, which is honeycomb in appearance, is approximated in a topological sense to an accuracy of better than 1% using a stretcher bond brick pattern with bricks of 42 squares (6 by 7).[8]

In astronomy

* Messier object M42, a magnitude 5.0 diffuse nebula in the constellation Orion, also known as the Orion Nebula
* The New General Catalogue object NGC 42, a spiral galaxy in the constellation Pegasus
* In January 2004, asteroid 2001 DA42 was given the permanent name 25924 Douglasadams, for the author Douglas Adams who popularized the number 42 and died in 2001. Brian G. Marsden, the director of the Minor Planet Center and the secretary for the naming committee, remarked that, with even his initials in the provisional designation, "This was sort of made for him, wasn't it?"

In religion

* There are 42 principles of Ma'at, the Ancient Egyptian personification of physical and moral law, order, and truth. In the judgement scene described in the Egyptian and the Book of the Coming/Going Forth by Day (the Book of the Dead (which evolved from the Coffin Texts and the Pyramid Texts)), there are 42 gods and goddesses of Egypt, personifying the principles of Ma'at, who ask questions of the departed, while Thoth records the answers, and the deceased's heart is weighed against the feather of Truth (Ma'at). These 42 correspond to the 42 Nomes (Governmental Units) of Egypt. If the departed successfully answers all 42, s/he becomes an Osiris.

* 42 is the number with which God creates the Universe in Kabbalistic tradition. In Kabbalah, the most significant name is that of the En Sof (also known as "Ein Sof", "Infinite" or "Endless"), who is above the Sefirot (sometimes spelled "Sephirot").

* The number 42 appears in various contexts in Christianity. There are 42 generations (names) in the Gospel of Matthew's version of the Genealogy of Jesus; it is prophesied that for 42 months the Beast will hold dominion over the Earth (Revelation 13:5); 42 men of Beth-azmaveth were counted in the census of men of Israel upon return from exile (Ezra 2:24); God sent bears to maul 42 of the youths who mocked Elisha for his baldness (2 Kings 2:23), etc.

* In Judaism, the number (in the Babylonian Talmud, compiled 375 AD to 499 AD) of the "Forty-Two Lettered Name" ascribed to God. Rab, a 3rd century source in the Talmud stated "The Forty-Two Lettered Name is entrusted only to him who is pious, meek, middle-aged, free from bad temper, sober, and not insistent on his rights".

* In Western Hermetic sphere work 42 is the sum of the values of the 'true' spheres, 3,4,5,6,7,8 & 9 each of which represent one aspect of the body of God through which we observe the world.

In popular culture

* The number 42 is in the novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is calculated by an enormous supercomputer over a period of 7.5 million years to be 42. Unfortunately no one knows what the question is. According to the novel Mostly Harmless, 42 is the street address of Stavromula Beta. In 1994, Adams created the 42 Puzzle, a game based on the number 42.

Lewis Carroll made repeated use of this number in his writings.
* Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has 42 illustrations.
* Rule Forty-two in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland ("All persons more than a mile high to leave the court".)
* Rule 42 of the Code in the preface to The Hunting of the Snark ("No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm.")
* In "fit the first" of The Hunting of the Snark the Baker had "forty-two boxes, all carefully packed, With his name painted clearly on each".

In music

* Level 42 is an English pop/rock music band.
* "42" is one of the tracks on Coldplay's 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.
* Strigaskór nr. 42 is an Icelandic band.
* "42" is the title of a song by Philadelphia based jam/electronica band The Disco Biscuits.
* "Forty-Two" is the title of a song from The Afters' 2008 album Never Going Back To OK.

In television and film

* Fox Mulder, one of the main characters in The X-Files lived in Apartment 42 at 2630 Hegal Place, Alexandria, Virginia.
* The Kumars at No. 42 television series. In 2003, Sanjeev Bhaskar hosted a BBC show nominating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as Britain's Best Loved Book.
* 42 is one of The Numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 - featured in Lost.
* A made for TV movie 42: Forty Two Up - an installment in a series of documentaries wherein the director revisits the same group of British-born individuals every 7 years.[14]
* 42 is an episode of Doctor Who, set in real time lasting approximately 42 minutes.
* In the Doctor Who episode Voyage of the Damned, the Tenth Doctor attempts to control a rogue host robot by randomly shouting numbers, including of course, 42.
* In an episode of the animated show, Phineas and Ferb called "The Fast & the Phineas", the boys turn their mother's car into a racecar. The number of their racecar is 42.
* 42 is the name of Buzz Lightyear's space ship from Buzz Lightyear of Star Command.
* In Monty Python's film And Now for Something Completely Different, the famous "How Not to be Seen" sketch is presented as "H.M. Government Public Service film No. 42".
* In A Clockwork Orange Alex browses through records in a record store and we see a record of the, at this time fictional, band Level 42.
* In an episode of "Stargate Atlantis" it is revealed that Rodney Mckay's password is made up of the birth years of several notable minds throughout history, and ends with the number 42. The character Jack Sheppard reveals that the number is the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything, to the confusion of his alien companion.
* In an episode of "Stargate Atlantis," Season 4 - Doppelganger; Dr. McKay asks Col. Sheppard "Look, do you have any idea how many Gate addresses there are in the Ancient database that have no accompanying description?" to which Sheppard answers "forty two".
* In the episode "Human" from Stargate Universe, the key to a code appears to be the number 46. Upon seeing this, Daniel Jackson exclaims: "Well, it's not the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything. That's forty two. Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy."
* In "Finding Nemo" the address of the dentist's office is P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney
* In "The Mentalist", Season 2, Episode 21, titled "18-5-4", a fictional machine called the Universal Code Breaker or 'Universal Hack' , is hidden inside locker number 42.
* In "Amelie", the number appears on the bottom of Mr. Collignon's shoe.

In video games

* 42 Entertainment is the company responsible for several alternate reality games, including I Love Bees, Year Zero and Why So Serious.
* In Spore, reaching the center of the galaxy yields a powerful item known as the "Staff of Life" which has a limited 42 uses. It also grants the player an achievement titled "42".
* In Fable II, the last in a series of ancient artifacts the player can find says "Now just think of the number 42."
* 101010 (42 in Binary) is an open-source Java game.
* In the Champions Online MMORPG it states during a loading screen "your lucky numbers are 2, 5 and 42"
* In Valve Corporation's Left 4 Dead 2, 42 is the number of Moustachios that must be shot in the Dark Carnival campaign's Whack-a-Mole style mini-game in order to unlock the STACH WACKER achievement.
* In Destroy All Humans! you go into a parody of Area 51 called Area 42.
* In Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, and the Lego Star Wars games, the maximum amount of studs you can have is 4,200,000,000.
* In The Conduit one of the conspiracy messages reads XLII or 42 in roman numerals
In Mucky Foot Software's 'Startopia', the AI Computer advisor is quoted as saying '42. Interesting number don't you think? Although I suppose its importance is lost on you carbon based lifeforms'

In Birthdays:

As he was born on Dec 12, 1968, it is my husband Bryan Nicholas Alkema's 42nd birthday today!
Clearly this is an astrologically and scientifically significant number which deserves due recognition.
Three cheers for Bryan, and his birthday!