42
42 is an interesting number, made widely popular by Douglas Adams in his book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". So there was this girl that asked me to tell some interesting stuff about 42. I churned out a few, but nowhere near satisfactory. :(
So I planned to use this waste space available on my blog and some waste time I had over my lap to make 42 interesting... haha, via some totally jerky trivia, that I lost my head over, and surely you will too :)
'Agara muthala ezhuthellam Adi Bhagavan mudhatre uzhagu' - this is how the Thirukkural starts. It means: 'The World has the eternal God for its first.' Therefore, for starters: 42 is the number with which God creates the Universe in Kabalistic tradition. And the most popular trivia would be: What is the answer to Life, Universe and Everything? 42. Ofcourse. Obvious isn't it?
Now, who doesn't like sports?! Here you go, all ye law-abiding sports enthusiasts!: 42 is the number of laws of cricket!!! Hmm.. let's see, am sure some of you might remember Krishnamachari Srikkanth. That guy's frequent scores are 0,42 and 60! Seriously, there was a time, when ppl used to think that if Srikkanth crosses 0, then he would make 42, and if he crossed 42, he would make 60. ;) Don't think he crossed 60 too many times. Haha.
Superstitious beliefs or what... well, maybe. Ok, ppl around the world consider 13 to be unlucky, right? In Japan, they consider 42 to be unlucky! Yes, and you know why? Here's the reason: In Japanese, 4 (shi) and 2 (ni) are together pronounced like "going to death" (死に).
Going to death, huh?... Nah, let me go around the world first.... Been to NYC? Heard of the 42nd Street? 42nd Street is a main and very popular two-way thoroughfare. Landmarks on it include the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, the main branch of the New York Public Library, and Times Square.
Hmm.. there's a modern art piece on the walls of my building (AV Williams) which depicts New York. Very simple, there are some rectangular blocks made with crayon... there is a large lettered Taxi and 42nd Street written on right and left side resply. Well, New York is one awesome city... I am stuck up at Greenbelt, atleast for another 4 years... No night life, nothing! Blame Edison! All cities would have been equal if not for him. LOL. Anyways, Edison was born on 11th Feb. So? ... Hello, that's the 42nd day of the year! My, my! Ok, there are 323 days left in a normal year. 323, fyi, = 17*19.
Ok, that's basically the connection to 19! Now all trivia relating 19 and 42 are going to line up and present themselves to you. Lend your ears. 1942 - A love story. well... 11/19 is the 323rd day: 42 more days to end the year. Btw, Columbus discovered Americas on 19th Nov... haha, big trivia? sorry folks, no not the Americas, but Puerto Rico. next: 19+23 (consecutive primes) = 42. Ok, connection to 23 has been established! Please read the next para, at your own risk!
You know, I really had to rack my brains for this one. LOL. See, funda: u is the 21st letter. double 21 and get 42. double u and get w = 23rd letter! Haha, you guys... pity you poor souls, you should have taken the advice seriously. Go on.
Some basic arithmetic trivia: 41+43 (twin primes sandwiching 42) = 84 = 2*42. 6*7= 42... and '*' has an ascii value of 42! 42 in binary is 101010 - a pattern or what? :) 4^2=2^4=16. 4+2 = 6, which divides 42. 4 and 2 are powers of 2. Haha, I know some guys would have figured out that there were easier ways to connect 19,23,13 to 42... But what to do, I am not a great fan of quadratic factorization... atleast I had to be, otherwise you wouldn't ever come across the gems mentioned above.. LOL. Anyways for completeness: 21-2=19,21+2=23 and 21*2=42. Also 6+7=13 and 6*7=42.
All that arithmetic stuff must have been too easy for the mathematicians who are reading this... Hmm, let's get them interested now! 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. Howzzatt?!? May not be too difficult, uh huh. Hmm... next, 42 is a perfect score on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO) and International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Yes, completely true!
Speaking of perfection... Which number is one and a half times perfect? 42! Why? 1.5*28=42... hmm, yeah 28 is a perfect number! ;) Ok, I know you are totally cursing me right now... Well, here's trivia at its best! The most popular curse word: fuck... f+u+c+k = 6+21+3+12 = 42!!! Man! Who rocks in here? Yours truly ofcourse! Read on.
Every good thing has to come to an end. Well, same holds for 42 as well... Hmm, for all those catholic ppl who now associate 42 with the word 'fuck', here's the good news: k is the 11th letter, not the 12th. ;) hence 42 is a good thing too. I am sure atleast 42% of the ppl wouldn't have paused to note that! I know this blog entry was racing. Won't blame you for overlooking the mistake! BBye!!
Additional Trivia : :)
1. Washington is the 42nd state of the USA.
2. While trying to establish continuity between NewYork and 19, I had initially thought of writing this:
Anyways, while the teens hit the floor and hell freezes over at night, let me bring to attention, the last of them. Yes, it is nineteen!
But then, as you would agree with me, for the benefit of humanity... I removed it.
3. Surprise! Most of the useful trivia were taken from wiki!
4. The article contained 22 trivia for 42. Hmm, no... there were only 21. Huh? OK, here goes the 22nd: 22 in base 5 is 42. :)
PS: Please don't ask me the name of the girl who asked me stuff about 42. I take complete responsibility for this article.
So I planned to use this waste space available on my blog and some waste time I had over my lap to make 42 interesting... haha, via some totally jerky trivia, that I lost my head over, and surely you will too :)
'Agara muthala ezhuthellam Adi Bhagavan mudhatre uzhagu' - this is how the Thirukkural starts. It means: 'The World has the eternal God for its first.' Therefore, for starters: 42 is the number with which God creates the Universe in Kabalistic tradition. And the most popular trivia would be: What is the answer to Life, Universe and Everything? 42. Ofcourse. Obvious isn't it?
Now, who doesn't like sports?! Here you go, all ye law-abiding sports enthusiasts!: 42 is the number of laws of cricket!!! Hmm.. let's see, am sure some of you might remember Krishnamachari Srikkanth. That guy's frequent scores are 0,42 and 60! Seriously, there was a time, when ppl used to think that if Srikkanth crosses 0, then he would make 42, and if he crossed 42, he would make 60. ;) Don't think he crossed 60 too many times. Haha.
Superstitious beliefs or what... well, maybe. Ok, ppl around the world consider 13 to be unlucky, right? In Japan, they consider 42 to be unlucky! Yes, and you know why? Here's the reason: In Japanese, 4 (shi) and 2 (ni) are together pronounced like "going to death" (死に).
Going to death, huh?... Nah, let me go around the world first.... Been to NYC? Heard of the 42nd Street? 42nd Street is a main and very popular two-way thoroughfare. Landmarks on it include the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, the main branch of the New York Public Library, and Times Square.
Hmm.. there's a modern art piece on the walls of my building (AV Williams) which depicts New York. Very simple, there are some rectangular blocks made with crayon... there is a large lettered Taxi and 42nd Street written on right and left side resply. Well, New York is one awesome city... I am stuck up at Greenbelt, atleast for another 4 years... No night life, nothing! Blame Edison! All cities would have been equal if not for him. LOL. Anyways, Edison was born on 11th Feb. So? ... Hello, that's the 42nd day of the year! My, my! Ok, there are 323 days left in a normal year. 323, fyi, = 17*19.
Ok, that's basically the connection to 19! Now all trivia relating 19 and 42 are going to line up and present themselves to you. Lend your ears. 1942 - A love story. well... 11/19 is the 323rd day: 42 more days to end the year. Btw, Columbus discovered Americas on 19th Nov... haha, big trivia? sorry folks, no not the Americas, but Puerto Rico. next: 19+23 (consecutive primes) = 42. Ok, connection to 23 has been established! Please read the next para, at your own risk!
You know, I really had to rack my brains for this one. LOL. See, funda: u is the 21st letter. double 21 and get 42. double u and get w = 23rd letter! Haha, you guys... pity you poor souls, you should have taken the advice seriously. Go on.
Some basic arithmetic trivia: 41+43 (twin primes sandwiching 42) = 84 = 2*42. 6*7= 42... and '*' has an ascii value of 42! 42 in binary is 101010 - a pattern or what? :) 4^2=2^4=16. 4+2 = 6, which divides 42. 4 and 2 are powers of 2. Haha, I know some guys would have figured out that there were easier ways to connect 19,23,13 to 42... But what to do, I am not a great fan of quadratic factorization... atleast I had to be, otherwise you wouldn't ever come across the gems mentioned above.. LOL. Anyways for completeness: 21-2=19,21+2=23 and 21*2=42. Also 6+7=13 and 6*7=42.
All that arithmetic stuff must have been too easy for the mathematicians who are reading this... Hmm, let's get them interested now! 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. Howzzatt?!? May not be too difficult, uh huh. Hmm... next, 42 is a perfect score on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO) and International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). Yes, completely true!
Speaking of perfection... Which number is one and a half times perfect? 42! Why? 1.5*28=42... hmm, yeah 28 is a perfect number! ;) Ok, I know you are totally cursing me right now... Well, here's trivia at its best! The most popular curse word: fuck... f+u+c+k = 6+21+3+12 = 42!!! Man! Who rocks in here? Yours truly ofcourse! Read on.
Every good thing has to come to an end. Well, same holds for 42 as well... Hmm, for all those catholic ppl who now associate 42 with the word 'fuck', here's the good news: k is the 11th letter, not the 12th. ;) hence 42 is a good thing too. I am sure atleast 42% of the ppl wouldn't have paused to note that! I know this blog entry was racing. Won't blame you for overlooking the mistake! BBye!!
Additional Trivia : :)
1. Washington is the 42nd state of the USA.
2. While trying to establish continuity between NewYork and 19, I had initially thought of writing this:
Anyways, while the teens hit the floor and hell freezes over at night, let me bring to attention, the last of them. Yes, it is nineteen!
But then, as you would agree with me, for the benefit of humanity... I removed it.
3. Surprise! Most of the useful trivia were taken from wiki!
4. The article contained 22 trivia for 42. Hmm, no... there were only 21. Huh? OK, here goes the 22nd: 22 in base 5 is 42. :)
PS: Please don't ask me the name of the girl who asked me stuff about 42. I take complete responsibility for this article.
posted by Ranjit | 5:44 AM
|
1 comments
