tom wrote in
. net:

Lostgallifreyan wrote:
Actually it comes out during the TV play and at
least one of the books that it's "what is 9 times 6?"

Adams denied what many here should quickly figure out.

tom
K0TAR


I never saw that one.. Read the books, but I don't remember that, at
least not with much meaning. Maybe just to indicate human capacity for
coming up with wrong answers from wrong questions? I doubt he ever
spelled out what the real roots were. A good magician doesn't
deliberately and publicly spoil the illusion (or in his case, allusion,
perhaps). The one thing I'm fairly sure of is thet the references were
cultural, colloquial, and that's why so many people got it. Without
that it might have just been another impenetratable space opera with
humour thrown in.

Ok, a hint. 9 times 6 IS 42.

tom
K0TAR


Well, I wondered about non-euclidean geometry for a moment, then remembered
Greg House saying something about working smart, not hard, and no-one said I
couldn't plunder Wikipedia, so....

Actually, before I got there, I wasn't even sure if what Adams had denied was
that "six times nine equals thirteen is wrong", or that he denied the more
interesting case that it was its correctness in base 13 that explained the
'answer'. Apparently he did deny it. Which doesn't mean it isn't true. But
according to Wikipedia's stuff, he chose a small number that looked ordinary
and totally unprofound. Which means that he let whim, i.e. unconscious
conditioning hold sway, without attempt to mediate it. Given that the English
colloquilasm would never be entirely far from a writer wose native language
and culture was English, I stand by my 'theory'. Though I'd like to know
if he was ever directly questioned about the 'sixes and sevens' thing and
denied it. Even then, he would be telling the truth if it hadn't been
conscious. MUCH more like he was influence ny this that by base 13, no?

Maybe you should get me started on my idea for The Long Dark Teatime Of The
Soul, you might like it. The only thing I'll say about it now, unprompted,
is that in this case the allusion isn't English, it's French.