Douglas Adams, On why the Earth was Created

Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, .... When asked to produce The Ultimate Question, the computer says that it cannot; however, it can help to design an even more powerful computer, the Earth, that can. .....


It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. The Ultimate Question itself is unknown.

• "Six by nine. Forty two."
• "That's it. That's all there is."
• "I always thought something was fundamentally wrong with the universe"

“Narrator: There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. 

There is another theory which states that this has already happened.”

6*9=54

6₁₃ × 9₁₃ = 42₁₃  (using base 13).

(see, Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy