Predvsem za Burjo al Vetercek
kopirano iz wikipedie:
However, it was later pointed out that 6 × 9 = 42 if the calculations are performed in base 13, not base 10. Douglas Adams was not aware of this at the time, and has since been quoted as saying that "nobody writes jokes in base 13." and also "I may be a pretty sad person, but I don't make jokes in base 13." (Note, however, that the Scrabble board Arthur used had thirteen squares to a side, whereas an actual Scrabble board has fifteen.)
In the original radio series, this scene occurs at the end of the first series (Fit the Sixth). On discovering the question, Arthur Dent remarks "I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.".
"42" is often used in a similar manner to a metasyntactic variable; 42 is often used in testing programs as a common initializer for integer variables.
Another possible explanation for the answer of 42 is that in the phrase "answer to life the universe and everything" there are exactly 42 characters including spaces. Also, in the question and answer "What do you get if you multiply six by nine? Forty-two" contains 42 letters (excluding the hyphen and question mark).
Additionally, 42 is 101010 in binary and the * as an ASCII character.