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42 (number)
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42 is the natural number
Natural number
In mathematics, the natural numbers are the ordinary whole numbers used for counting and ordering . These purposes are related to the linguistic notions of cardinal and ordinal numbers, respectively...

 immediately following 41
41 (number)
41 is the natural number following 40 and preceding 42.-In mathematics:Forty-one is the 13th smallest prime number. The next is forty-three, with which it comprises a twin prime...

 and directly preceding 43
43 (number)
43 is the natural number following 42 and preceding 44.- In mathematics :Forty-three is the 14th smallest prime number. The previous is forty-one, with which it comprises a twin prime, and the next is forty-seven. 43 is the smallest prime that is not a Chen prime...

. The number has received considerable attention in popular culture as a result of its central appearance in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...

 as the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything".

Mathematics

  • Given 27 same-size cubes whose nominal values progress from 1 to 27, a 3×3×3 magic cube
    Magic cube
    In mathematics, a magic cube is the 3-dimensional equivalent of a magic square, that is, a number of integers arranged in a n x n x n pattern such that the sum of the numbers on each row, each column, each pillar and the four main space diagonals is equal to a single number, the so-called magic...

     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.
  • Forty-two is a pronic number
    Pronic number
    A pronic number, oblong number, rectangular number or heteromecic number, is a number which is the product of two consecutive integers, that is, n . The n-th pronic number is twice the n-th triangular number and n more than the n-th square number...

     and an abundant number; its prime factorization 2 · 3 · 7 makes it the second sphenic number
    Sphenic number
    In number theory, a sphenic number is a positive integer which is the product of three distinct prime numbers.Note that this definition is more stringent than simply requiring the integer to have exactly three prime factors; e.g. 60 = 22 × 3 × 5 has exactly 3 prime factors, but is not sphenic.All...

     and also the second of the form { 2 · 3 · r }. As with all sphenic numbers of this form, the aliquot sum is abundant by 12. 42 is also the second sphenic number to be bracketed by twin prime
    Twin prime
    A twin prime is a prime number that differs from another prime number by two. Except for the pair , this is the smallest possible difference between two primes. Some examples of twin prime pairs are , , , , and...

    s; 30
    30 (number)
    30 is the natural number following 29 and preceding 31.-In mathematics:30 is the sum of the first four squares, which makes it a square pyramidal number.It is a primorial and is the smallest Giuga number....

     is also a pronic number and also rests between two primes. 42 has a 14 member aliquot sequence
    Aliquot sequence
    In mathematics, an aliquot sequence is a recursive sequence in which each term is the sum of the proper divisors of the previous term. The aliquot sequence starting with a positive integer k can be defined formally in terms of the sum-of-divisors function σ1 in the following way:For example, the...

     42, 54, 66, 78, 90, 144, 259, 45, 33, 15, 9, 4, 3, 1, 0 and is itself part of the aliquot sequence
    Aliquot sequence
    In mathematics, an aliquot sequence is a recursive sequence in which each term is the sum of the proper divisors of the previous term. The aliquot sequence starting with a positive integer k can be defined formally in terms of the sum-of-divisors function σ1 in the following way:For example, the...

     commencing with the first sphenic number 30
    30 (number)
    30 is the natural number following 29 and preceding 31.-In mathematics:30 is the sum of the first four squares, which makes it a square pyramidal number.It is a primorial and is the smallest Giuga number....

    . Further, 42 is the 10th member of the 3-aliquot tree.
  • 42 is the product of the first three terms of Sylvester's sequence
    Sylvester's sequence
    In number theory, Sylvester's sequence is an integer sequence in which each member of the sequence is the product of the previous members, plus one. The first few terms of the sequence are:...

    ; like the first five such numbers it is also a primary pseudoperfect number.
  • It is a Catalan number
    Catalan number
    In combinatorial mathematics, the Catalan numbers form a sequence of natural numbers that occur in various counting problems, often involvingrecursively defined objects...

    . Consequently; 42 is the number of noncrossing partition
    Noncrossing partition
    In combinatorial mathematics, the topic of noncrossing partitions has assumed some importance because of its application to the theory of free probability...

    s of a set of five elements, the number of triangulations of a heptagon, the number of rooted ordered binary trees
    Tree (graph theory)
    In mathematics, more specifically graph theory, a tree is an undirected graph in which any two vertices are connected by exactly one simple path. In other words, any connected graph without cycles is a tree...

     with six leaves, the number of ways in which five pairs of nested parentheses can be arranged, etc.
  • It is the reciprocal of the sixth Bernoulli number
    Bernoulli number
    In mathematics, the Bernoulli numbers Bn are a sequence of rational numbers with deep connections to number theory. They are closely related to the values of the Riemann zeta function at negative integers....

    .
  • It is conjectured to be the scaling factor in the leading order term of the "sixth moment
    Moment (mathematics)
    In mathematics, a moment is, loosely speaking, a quantitative measure of the shape of a set of points. The "second moment", for example, is widely used and measures the "width" of a set of points in one dimension or in higher dimensions measures the shape of a cloud of points as it could be fit by...

     of the Riemann
    Bernhard Riemann
    Georg Friedrich Bernhard Riemann was an influential German mathematician who made lasting contributions to analysis and differential geometry, some of them enabling the later development of general relativity....

     zeta function". In particular, Conrey & Ghosh have conjectured
    where the infinite product is over all prime numbers, p.
  • It is the third pentadecagonal number
    Polygonal number
    In mathematics, a polygonal number is a number represented as dots or pebbles arranged in the shape of a regular polygon. The dots were thought of as alphas . These are one type of 2-dimensional figurate numbers.- Definition and examples :...

    . It is a meandric number
    Meander (mathematics)
    In mathematics, a meander or closed meander is a self-avoiding closed curve which intersects a line a number of times. Intuitively, a meander can be viewed as a road crossing a river through a number of bridges.-Meander:...

     and an open meandric number.
  • 42 is a Størmer number
    Størmer number
    In mathematics, a Størmer number or arc-cotangent irreducible number, named after Carl Størmer, is a positive integer n for which the greatest prime factor of n2 + 1 meets or exceeds 2n. The first few Størmer numbers are 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, etc....

    .
  • 42 is a perfect score on the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO
    United States of America Mathematical Olympiad
    The United States of America Mathematical Olympiad is a high school mathematics competition held annually in the United States. Since its debut in 1972, it has served as the final round of the AMC series of contests...

    ) and International Mathematical Olympiad
    International Mathematical Olympiad
    The International Mathematical Olympiad is an annual six-problem, 42-point mathematical olympiad for pre-collegiate students and is the oldest of the International Science Olympiads. The first IMO was held in Romania in 1959. It has since been held annually, except in 1980...

     (IMO).
  • In base 10, this number is a Harshad number
    Harshad number
    A Harshad number, or Niven number in a given number base, is an integer that is divisible by the sum of its digits when written in that base. Harshad numbers were defined by D. R. Kaprekar, a mathematician from India. The word "Harshad" comes from the Sanskrit + , meaning joy-giver. The Niven...

     and a self number
    Self number
    A self number, Colombian number or Devlali number is an integer which, in a given base, cannot be generated by any other integer added to the sum of that other integer's digits. For example, 21 is not a self number, since it can be generated by the sum of 15 and the digits comprising 15, that is,...

    , while it is a repdigit
    Repdigit
    In recreational mathematics, a repdigit is a natural number composed of repeated instances of the same digit, most often in the decimal numeral system....

     in base 4 (as 222).

Science

  • The atomic number
    Atomic number
    In chemistry and physics, the atomic number is the number of protons found in the nucleus of an atom and therefore identical to the charge number of the nucleus. It is conventionally represented by the symbol Z. The atomic number uniquely identifies a chemical element...

     of molybdenum
    Molybdenum
    Molybdenum , is a Group 6 chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42. The name is from Neo-Latin Molybdaenum, from Ancient Greek , meaning lead, itself proposed as a loanword from Anatolian Luvian and Lydian languages, since its ores were confused with lead ores...

    .
  • 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
    Earth
    Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

    , connecting a set of antipodes
    Antipodes
    In geography, the antipodes of any place on Earth is the point on the Earth's surface which is diametrically opposite to it. Two points that are antipodal to one another are connected by a straight line running through the centre of the Earth....

    , 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. (The same idea was proposed, without calculation, by Lewis Carroll
    Lewis Carroll
    Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

     in 1893 in Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.)

Technology

  • Magic numbers
    Magic number (programming)
    In computer programming, the term magic number has multiple meanings. It could refer to one or more of the following:* A constant numerical or text value used to identify a file format or protocol; for files, see List of file signatures...

     used by programmer
    Programmer
    A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...

    s:
    • The glyph, or character, corresponding to the number 42 in the ASCII character set, is *, the asterisk
      Asterisk
      An asterisk is a typographical symbol or glyph. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often pronounce it as star...

      , commonly known as the wildcard character
      Wildcard character
      -Telecommunication:In telecommunications, a wildcard character is a character that may be substituted for any of a defined subset of all possible characters....

      .
    • In the TIFF
      Tagged Image File Format
      TIFF is a file format for storing images, popular among graphic artists, the publishing industry, and both amateur and professional photographers in general. As of 2009, it is under the control of Adobe Systems...

       image file format, the second 16-bit
      16-bit
      -16-bit architecture:The HP BPC, introduced in 1975, was the world's first 16-bit microprocessor. Prominent 16-bit processors include the PDP-11, Intel 8086, Intel 80286 and the WDC 65C816. The Intel 8088 was program-compatible with the Intel 8086, and was 16-bit in that its registers were 16...

       word of every file is 42, which is used together with the first word to indicate byte order
      Endianness
      In computing, the term endian or endianness refers to the ordering of individually addressable sub-components within the representation of a larger data item as stored in external memory . Each sub-component in the representation has a unique degree of significance, like the place value of digits...

      .
    • In the reiser4
      Reiser4
      Reiser4 is a computer file system, successor to the ReiserFS file system, developed from scratch by Namesys and sponsored by DARPA as well as Linspire...

       file system, 42 is the inode
      Inode
      In computing, an inode is a data structure on a traditional Unix-style file system such as UFS. An inode stores all the information about a regular file, directory, or other file system object, except its data and name....

       number of the root directory
      Root directory
      In computer file systems, the root directory is the first or top-most directory in a hierarchy. It can be likened to the root of a tree — the starting point where all branches originate.-Metaphor:...

      .
    • In the military IRIG 106 Chapter 10 data recording standard, the hex value 0x464F52545974776F (ASCII "FORTYtwo") is used as a magic number to identify directory blocks.
  • The GNU C Library
    GNU C Library
    The GNU C Library, commonly known as glibc, is the C standard library released by the GNU Project. Originally written by the Free Software Foundation for the GNU operating system, the library's development has been overseen by a committee since 2001, with Ulrich Drepper from Red Hat as the lead...

    , a set of standard routines available for use in computer programming
    Computer programming
    Computer programming is the process of designing, writing, testing, debugging, and maintaining the source code of computer programs. This source code is written in one or more programming languages. The purpose of programming is to create a program that performs specific operations or exhibits a...

    , contains a function
    Subroutine
    In computer science, a subroutine is a portion of code within a larger program that performs a specific task and is relatively independent of the remaining code....

    —memfrob—which performs an XOR combination of a given variable and the binary
    Binary numeral system
    The binary numeral system, or base-2 number system, represents numeric values using two symbols, 0 and 1. More specifically, the usual base-2 system is a positional notation with a radix of 2...

     pattern 00101010 (42) as an XOR cipher.
  • 42 is the result given by the web search engine
    Web search engine
    A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...

    s Google
    Google
    Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

    , Wolfram Alpha
    Wolfram Alpha
    Wolfram Alpha is an answer-engine developed by Wolfram Research. It is an online service that answers factual queries directly by computing the answer from structured data, rather than providing a list of documents or web pages that might contain the answer as a search engine might...

      and Bing
    Bing
    Bing is a web search engine from Microsoft.Bing may also refer to:* An onomatopœia of a bell sound* Bing cherry, a variety of cherry* Bing , Chinese flatbread* Bing , a German company that manufactured toys and kitchen utensils...

      when the query "the answer to life the universe and everything" is entered as a search.
  • The type 42 vacuum tube was one of the most popular audio output amplifiers of the 1930s.
  • 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.
  • Microsoft's Windows 3.x logo has 42 little squares forming its left side trail.
  • In Win32 API, ShellExecute always return 42 as its result.
  • Facebook
    Facebook
    Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...

     chat has a special emoticon
    Emoticon
    An emoticon is a facial expression pictorially represented by punctuation and letters, usually to express a writer’s mood. Emoticons are often used to alert a responder to the tenor or temper of a statement, and can change and improve interpretation of plain text. The word is a portmanteau word...

     that can be used on its chat feature. When a person types ":42:" on it, the number appears white in a red box. This is not possible with any other number.
  • Tiling a plane using regular hexagons, which is honeycomb
    Honeycomb
    A honeycomb is a mass of hexagonal waxcells built by honey bees in their nests to contain their larvae and stores of honey and pollen.Beekeepers may remove the entire honeycomb to harvest honey...

     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).

Astronomy

  • Messier object
    Messier object
    The Messier objects are a set of astronomical objects first listed by French astronomer Charles Messier in 1771. The original motivation of the catalogue was that Messier was a comet hunter, and was frustrated by objects which resembled but were not comets...

     M42
    Orion Nebula
    The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light...

    , a magnitude
    Apparent magnitude
    The apparent magnitude of a celestial body is a measure of its brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, adjusted to the value it would have in the absence of the atmosphere...

     5.0 diffuse nebula in the constellation
    Constellation
    In modern astronomy, a constellation is an internationally defined area of the celestial sphere. These areas are grouped around asterisms, patterns formed by prominent stars within apparent proximity to one another on Earth's night sky....

     Orion
    Orion (constellation)
    Orion, often referred to as The Hunter, is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous, and most recognizable constellations in the night sky...

    , also known as the Orion Nebula
    Orion Nebula
    The Orion Nebula is a diffuse nebula situated south of Orion's Belt. It is one of the brightest nebulae, and is visible to the naked eye in the night sky. M42 is located at a distance of and is the closest region of massive star formation to Earth. The M42 nebula is estimated to be 24 light...

  • The New General Catalogue
    New General Catalogue
    The New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars is a well-known catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy. It contains 7,840 objects, known as the NGC objects...

     object NGC 42, a spiral galaxy
    Spiral galaxy
    A spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as...

     in the constellation Pegasus
    Pegasus (constellation)
    Pegasus is a constellation in the northern sky, named after the winged horse Pegasus in Greek mythology. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations.-Stars:...

  • In January 2004, asteroid
    Asteroid
    Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

     2001 DA42 was given the permanent name 25924 Douglasadams
    25924 Douglasadams
    25924 Douglasadams is an asteroid from the asteroid belt. It was discovered by LINEAR on February 19, 2001 and given the provisional designation...

    , for the author Douglas Adams
    Douglas Adams
    Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...

     who popularized the number 42 and died in 2001. Brian G. Marsden
    Brian G. Marsden
    Brian Geoffrey Marsden was a British astronomer born in Cambridge, England, and educated at The Perse School in Cambridge, New College, Oxford and Yale University. Dr...

    , the director of the Minor Planet Center
    Minor Planet Center
    The Minor Planet Center operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory , which is part of the Center for Astrophysics along with the Harvard College Observatory ....

     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?"

Religion

  • In Japanese culture, the number 42 is considered unlucky because the numerals when pronounced separately — "shi ni" (four two) — sound like the phrase, "unto death".
  • 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
    Book of the Dead
    The Book of the Dead is the modern name of an ancient Egyptian funerary text, used from the beginning of the New Kingdom to around 50 BC. The original Egyptian name for the text, transliterated rw nw prt m hrw is translated as "Book of Coming Forth by Day". Another translation would be "Book of...

     (which evolved from the Coffin Texts
    Coffin Texts
    The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. The texts are derived in part from the earlier pyramid texts, reserved for royal use only, but they contain substantial new material related to everyday desires that...

     and the Pyramid Texts
    Pyramid Texts
    The Pyramid Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian religious texts from the time of the Old Kingdom. The pyramid texts are possibly the oldest known religious texts in the world. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved on the walls and sarcophagi of the pyramids at Saqqara during...

    )), there are 42 gods and goddesses of Egypt, personifying the principles of Ma'at, who ask questions of the departed, while Thoth
    Thoth
    Thoth was considered one of the more important deities of the Egyptian pantheon. In art, he was often depicted as a man with the head of an ibis or a baboon, animals sacred to him. His feminine counterpart was Seshat...

     records the answers, and the deceased's heart is weighed against the feather of Truth (Ma'at). These 42 correspond to the 42 Nomes
    Nome (Egypt)
    A nome was a subnational administrative division of ancient Egypt. Today's use of the Greek nome rather than the Egyptian term sepat came about during the Ptolemaic period. Fascinated with Egypt, Greeks created many historical records about the country...

     (Governmental Units) of Egypt. If the departed successfully answers all 42, s/he becomes an Osiris
    Osiris
    Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...

    .
  • 42 is the number with which God creates the Universe in Kabbalistic tradition
    Kabbalah
    Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...

    . In Kabbalah, the most significant name is that of the En Sof (also known as "Ein Sof
    Ein Sof
    Ein Sof , in Kabbalah, is understood as God prior to His self-manifestation in the production of any spiritual Realm, probably derived from Ibn Gabirol's term, "the Endless One"...

    ", "Infinite" or "Endless"), who is above the Sefirot (sometimes spelled "Sephirot"). The Forty-Two-Lettered Name contains four combined names which are spelled in Hebrew letters (spelled in letters = 42 letters), which is the name of Azilut (or "Atziluth
    Atziluth
    Atziluth, or Atzilut , is the highest of four worlds in which exists the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Beri'ah follows it. It is known as the World of Emanations, or the World of Causes...

    " "Emanation"). While there are obvious links between the Forty-Two Lettered Name of the Babylonian Talmud (see further up this page) and the Kabbalah's Forty-Two Lettered Name, they are probably not identical because of the Kabbalah's emphasis on numbers. The Kabbalah also contains a Forty-Five Lettered Name and a Seventy-Two Lettered Name.
  • The number 42 appears in various contexts in Christianity
    Christianity
    Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

    . There are 42 generations (names) in the Gospel of Matthew
    Gospel of Matthew
    The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

    's version of the Genealogy of Jesus
    Genealogy of Jesus
    The genealogy of Jesus is described in two passages of the Gospels: Luke 3:23–38 and Matthew 1:1–17.* Matthew's genealogy commences with Abraham and then from King David's son Solomon follows the legal line of the kings through Jeconiah, the king whose descendants were cursed, to Joseph, legal...

    ; it is prophesied that for 42 months the Beast
    Antichrist
    The term or title antichrist, in Christian theology, refers to a leader who fulfills Biblical prophecies concerning an adversary of Christ, while resembling him in a deceptive manner...

     will hold dominion over the Earth (Revelation
    Book of Revelation
    The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...

     13:5); 42 men of Beth-azmaveth were counted in the census
    Census
    A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

     of men of Israel
    Israel
    The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

     upon return from exile (Ezra
    Book of Ezra
    The Book of Ezra is a book of the Hebrew Bible. Originally combined with the Book of Nehemiah in a single book of Ezra-Nehemiah, the two became separated in the early centuries of the Christian era...

     2:24); God
    God
    God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....

     sent bears to maul 42 of the teenage boys who mocked Elisha
    Elisha
    Elisha is a prophet mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and the Qur'an. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, or Alyasa via Arabic.-Biblical biography:...

     for his baldness (2 Kings
    Books of Kings
    The Book of Kings presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years...

     2:23), etc.
  • In Judaism
    Judaism
    Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

    , the number (in the Babylonian Talmud, compiled 375 AD to 499 AD) of the "Forty-Two Lettered Name" ascribed to God. Rab (or Rabhs), 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". [Source: Talmud Kidduschin 71a, Translated by Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein]. Maimonides
    Maimonides
    Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...

     felt that the original Talmudic Forty-Two Lettered Name was perhaps composed of several combined divine names [Maimonides "Moreh"]. The apparently unpronouncable Tetragrammaton
    Tetragrammaton
    The term Tetragrammaton refers to the name of the God of Israel YHWH used in the Hebrew Bible.-Hebrew Bible:...

     provides the backdrop from the Twelve-Lettered Name and the Forty-Two Lettered Name of the Talmud.
  • 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. 1 and 2 are considered modalities of existence and 10 is the completion we see from our own sphere, 11. The sum of the squares of each of these numbers make 216, or 6 x 6 x 6, the number of the beast, which is also the number of the names of God the Jews had to say once a year in the holy of holies to assure blessings from on high. The 'beast' is the perfect sphere, represented in 3 dimensions by 3 bounding circles, each with 6 radii, hence 666 being the number of the beast and directly being linked to 216 and 42. This is the foundation of Western Hermetic sphere work and is echoed in Pythagoreanism.
  • The Gutenberg Bible
    Gutenberg Bible
    The Gutenberg Bible was the first major book printed with a movable type printing press, and marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of the printed book. Widely praised for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has an iconic status...

     is also known as the "42-line Bible", as the book contained 42 lines per page.
  • The Forty-Two Articles (1552), largely the work of Thomas Cranmer
    Thomas Cranmer
    Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...

    , were intended to summarise Anglican doctrine, as it now existed under the reign of Edward VI.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The number 42 is, in by Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...

, "The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", and 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. Thus, to calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer was created, the size of a small planet, to use organic components, called "Earth". According to , 42 is the street address of Stavromula Beta. In 1994 Adams created the 42 Puzzle, a game based on the number 42.

The book 42: Douglas Adams' Amazingly Accurate Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything examines Adams' choice of the number 42 and also contains a compendium of some instances of the number in science, popular culture and humour.

Works of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...

 made repeated use of this number in his writings.

Examples of Carroll's use of 42:
  • Alice's Adventures in Wonderland has 42 illustrations.
  • Rule Forty-two in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
    Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...

     ("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
    The Hunting of the Snark
    The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...

     ("No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm").
  • In "fit the first" of The Hunting of the Snark
    The Hunting of the Snark
    The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...

     the Baker had "forty-two boxes, all carefully packed, With his name painted clearly on each."
  • The White Queen announces her age as "one hundred and one, five months and a day", which - if the best possible date is assumed for the action of Through the Looking-Glass - gives a total of 37,044 days. With the further (textually unconfirmed) assumption that both Queens were born on the same day their combined age becomes 74,088 days, which is 42 x 42 x 42. Some commentators have asserted that this is deliberate on Carroll's part.

Music

  • Level 42
    Level 42
    Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...

     is an English
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

     pop
    Pop music
    Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

    /rock
    Rock music
    Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

     music band.
  • "42
    42 (song)
    "42" is a song by alternative rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends. The song, divided into three parts, does not have a chorus. The first part is a ballad with piano and strings. It then transforms into an...

    " is one of the tracks on Coldplay
    Coldplay
    Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

    's 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
    Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends
    Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, often referred to as simply Viva la Vida is the fourth studio album by British rock band Coldplay, released on 11 June 2008 on Parlophone. The album was named after a Spanish phrase that translates in English as "long live life"...

    .
  • Strigaskór nr. 42 is an Iceland
    Iceland
    Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...

    ic band.
  • "42" is the title of a song by Philadelphia based jam/electronica band Disco Biscuits
    Disco Biscuits
    The Disco Biscuits are a band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania known for their live performances and light shows. The band consists of Allen Aucoin , Marc Brownstein , Jon Gutwillig , and Aron Magner ....

    .
  • "Forty-Two" is the title of a song from The Afters' 2008 album Never Going Back To OK.
  • "42" is the title of a song by Swedish powerpop/rock band Roomie.

Television and film

  • The Kumars at No. 42
    The Kumars at No. 42
    The Kumars at No. 42 was a British television show. It won an International Emmy in 2002 and in 2003. It ran for seven series totalling 53 episodes.-Plot:...

     television series. In 2003, Sanjeev Bhaskar
    Sanjeev Bhaskar
    Sanjeev Bhaskar, OBE is a British Indian comedian, actor and broadcaster, best known for his work in the BBC Two comedy series Goodness Gracious Me and as host of The Kumars at No. 42...

     hosted a BBC
    BBC
    The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

     show nominating The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science fiction comedy series created by Douglas Adams. Originally a radio comedy broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1978, it was later adapted to other formats, and over several years it gradually became an international multi-media phenomenon...

     as Britain
    Great Britain
    Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

    's Best Loved Book    .
  • 42 is one of The Numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 - featured in Lost
    Lost (TV series)
    Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...

    . It is also the number tied to the character "Kwon".
  • 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.
  • "42
    42 (Doctor Who)
    "42" is an episode of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 19 May 2007, and is the seventh episode of Series 3 of the revived Doctor Who series....

    " is an episode of Doctor Who
    Doctor Who
    Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

    , set in real time lasting approximately 42 minutes.
  • 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 John Sheppard reveals that the number is the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything, to the confusion of his alien companion.
  • In the episode "Human" from Stargate Universe
    Stargate Universe
    Stargate Universe is a Canadian-American military science fiction television series and part of MGM's Stargate franchise. It follows the adventures of a present-day, multinational exploration team traveling on the Ancient spaceship Destiny many billions of light years distant from the Milky Way...

    , 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. Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."
  • On the game show "Jeopardy!
    Jeopardy!
    Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

    ", "Watson" the IBM supercomputer, has 42 "threads" in its avatar.
  • In season 3, episode 19 of The Office
    The Office
    The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...

    , Oscar (Oscar Nunez
    Oscar Nunez
    Oscar Nunez , sometimes credited as Oscar Núñez, is a Cuban American actor and comedian.He currently appears as Dunder Mifflin's paper supply accountant, Oscar Martinez, on NBC's The Office.-Career:...

    ) guesses that there are 42 jelly beans in Pam's (Jenna Fischer
    Jenna Fischer
    Regina Marie "Jenna" Fischer is an American actress and director. She is most widely known for her Emmy-nominated portrayal of Pam Halpert on the NBC situation comedy and mockumentary The Office, and has also appeared in several films, including Blades of Glory, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,...

    ) jar.

Video games

  • 42 Entertainment
    42 Entertainment
    42 Entertainment is an American company based in Pasadena which specializes in creating and producing alternate reality games . The company was founded in 2003 as an independently-owned, creative content and interactive agency under the name 4orty 2wo Entertainment. The company started with a...

     is the company responsible for several alternate reality game
    Alternate reality game
    An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....

    s, including I Love Bees, Year Zero
    Year Zero (game)
    Year Zero is an alternate reality game based on the Nine Inch Nails concept album of the same name, its expected follow-up, and a possible accompanying film or television project...

    , and Why So Serious.
  • In Spore
    Spore (2008 video game)
    Spore is a multi-genre single-player god game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright. The game was released for the Microsoft Windows and Macintosh operating systems in September 2008 as 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."
  • In Valve Corporation
    Valve Corporation
    Valve Corporation is an American video game development and digital distribution company based in Bellevue, Washington, United States...

    's Left 4 Dead 2
    Left 4 Dead 2
    Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first-person shooter video game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation's award-winning Left 4 Dead. The game launched on November 17, 2009, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in the United States and November 20 in Europe; in 2010, Left 4 Dead 2 was made available to...

    , 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!
    Destroy All Humans!
    Destroy All Humans! is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by THQ. It was released for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 on June 21, 2005. The game is set in the late 1950s in the U.S. and parodies the lifestyles, pop culture, and politics of this time period...

    , the player goes into a parody of Area 51
    Area 51
    Area 51 is a military base, and a remote detachment of Edwards Air Force Base. It is located in the southern portion of Nevada in the western United States, 83 miles north-northwest of downtown Las Vegas. Situated at its center, on the southern shore of Groom Lake, is a large military airfield...

     called Area 42.

Sports

  • The number of times Celtic F.C.
    Celtic F.C.
    Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...

     have won the Scottish league title.
  • The jersey number
    Squad number
    In team sports, the squad number, shirt number, jersey number, sweater number, uniform number or simply a number is the number worn on a player's uniform, to identify and distinguish each player from others wearing the same or similar uniforms...

     of Jackie Robinson
    Jackie Robinson
    Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first black Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line when he debuted with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947...

    , which is the only number retired by all Major League Baseball
    Major League Baseball
    Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

     teams. Although the number was retired in 1997, Mariano Rivera
    Mariano Rivera
    Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian right-handed baseball pitcher who has played 17 years in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees. Nicknamed "Mo", Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career, and since 1997, he has been the Yankees' closer...

     of the New York Yankees
    New York Yankees
    The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the The Bronx, New York. They compete in Major League Baseball in the American League's East Division...

    , the last professional baseball player to wear number 42, is currently still using it.
  • The jersey number of basketball Hall of Fame
    Basketball Hall of Fame
    The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, honors exceptional basketball players, coaches, referees, executives, and other major contributors to the game of basketball worldwide...

    r and one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History James Worthy
    James Worthy
    James Ager Worthy is a retired Hall of Fame American college and professional basketball player. Named as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, "Big Game James" was a seven-time NBA All-Star and three-time NBA champion...

    , small forward for the Los Angeles Lakers
    Los Angeles Lakers
    The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...

    , who retired his jersey number in 1995.
  • The jersey number of football Hall of Famer
    Pro Football Hall of Fame
    The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of professional football in the United States with an emphasis on the National Football League . It opened in Canton, Ohio, on September 7, 1963, with 17 charter inductees...

    , Ronnie Lott
    Ronnie Lott
    Ronald Mandel "Ronnie" Lott is a former American football player who starred as a cornerback, free safety, and strong safety in college football and the NFL. He is most well known for his crushing hits on opposing players...

    , safety for the San Francisco 49ers
    San Francisco 49ers
    The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...

    , who retired his jersey number in 2003.
  • The jersey number of Chicago Bears
    Chicago Bears
    The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

     legend Sid Luckman
    Sid Luckman
    Sidney Luckman, known as Sid Luckman, was an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1939 to 1950...

    , which was retired by the Bears.
  • The jersey number of Pat Tillman
    Pat Tillman
    Corporal Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman Jr. was an American football player who left his professional career and enlisted in the United States Army in June 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. He joined the Army Rangers and served several tours in combat before he died in the...

    , which was retired on November 13, 2004 by Arizona State University
    Arizona State Sun Devils football
    The Arizona State Sun Devils' football program represents Arizona State University in college football, and competes in NCAA Division I FBS as a member of the Pacific-12 Conference....

    .
  • The number of laws of cricket
    Laws of cricket
    The laws of cricket are a set of rules established by the Marylebone Cricket Club which describe the laws of cricket worldwide, to ensure uniformity and fairness. There are currently 42 laws, which outline all aspects of how the game is played from how a team wins a game, how a batsman is...

    .
  • Rule 42
    Rule 42
    Rule 42 is a rule of the Gaelic Athletic Association which in practice prohibits the playing of non-Gaelic games in GAA stadiums. The rule is often mistakenly believed to prohibit foreign sports at GAA owned stadiums...

     is the historic name of a Gaelic Athletic Association
    Gaelic Athletic Association
    The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...

     rule (now codified in Rule 5.1 and Rule 44) that in practice prohibits the playing of "foreign sports" (generally association football and the rugby codes
    Rugby football
    Rugby football is a style of football named after Rugby School in the United Kingdom. It is seen most prominently in two current sports, rugby league and rugby union.-History:...

    ) at GAA grounds.
  • 42 is the number of a NASCAR
    NASCAR
    The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...

     car owned by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
    Earnhardt Ganassi Racing
    Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates is a NASCAR team based in Concord, North Carolina, United States, owned by Dale Earnhardt's widow Teresa Earnhardt, Chip Ganassi, and Felix Sabates. This team was formed when Dale Earnhardt, Inc...

    . It is currently being driven by former F1 star and Indy 500
    Indianapolis 500
    The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

     champion Juan Pablo Montoya
    Juan Pablo Montoya
    Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán is a Colombian race car driver known internationally for participating and winning in Formula One and CART race competitions. He has enjoyed great success. Currently, he competes in NASCAR, driving the #42 Target Chevrolet Impala for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the Sprint...

    .

Other fields

  • +42 is the historic Country calling code for the former country of Czechoslovakia
    Czechoslovakia
    Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

  • There are 42 US gallons in a barrel of oil.
  • Tower 42
    Tower 42
    Tower 42 is the second tallest skyscraper in the City of London and the fifth tallest in London overall. The original name was the National Westminster Tower, having been built to house the National Westminster Bank's International Division. Seen from above, the tower closely resembles the NatWest...

     is a skyscraper in the City of London
    City of London
    The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

    , formerly known as the NatWest
    National Westminster Bank
    National Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is the largest retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom and has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc since 2000. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is ranked as the second largest bank in the world by assets...

     Tower.
  • The name of a Texan trick-taking game
    Trick-taking game
    A trick-taking game is a card game or tile-based game in which play centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called tricks. The object of such games then may be closely tied to the number of tricks taken, as in plain-trick games such as Whist, Contract Bridge, Napoleon, Rowboat, and...

     played with dominoes
    Dominoes
    Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...

     (see 42 (dominoes)
    42 (dominoes)
    42, also known as Texas 42, is a trick-taking game played with a standard set of double six dominoes. 42 is often referred to as the "national game of Texas", and continues to be very popular in much of the state. Tournaments are held in many towns, and the State Championship tournament is held...

    ).
  • The number of spots (or pips, circular patches or pits) on a pair of standard six-sided dice
    Dice
    A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...

    .
  • In New York City
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

    , 42nd Street
    42nd Street (Manhattan)
    42nd Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, known for its theaters, especially near the intersection with Broadway at Times Square. It is also the name of the region of the theater district near that intersection...

     is a main and very popular two-way thoroughfare. Landmarks on it include the Chrysler Building
    Chrysler Building
    The Chrysler Building is an Art Deco style skyscraper in New York City, located on the east side of Manhattan in the Turtle Bay area at the intersection of 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Standing at , it was the world's tallest building for 11 months before it was surpassed by the Empire State...

    , Grand Central Terminal
    Grand Central Terminal
    Grand Central Terminal —often incorrectly called Grand Central Station, or shortened to simply Grand Central—is a terminal station at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States...

    , the main branch of the New York Public Library
    New York Public Library
    The New York Public Library is the largest public library in North America and is one of the United States' most significant research libraries...

    , and Times Square
    Times Square
    Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

    . The New York City street is also the setting for a movie
    42nd Street (film)
    -Cast:*Warner Baxter as Julian Marsh, director*Bebe Daniels as Dorothy Brock, star*George Brent as Pat Denning, Dorothy's old vaudeville partner*Ruby Keeler as Peggy Sawyer, the newcomer*Guy Kibbee as Abner Dillon, the show's backer...

     by the same name (which also gave fame to its eponymous title song), and which later inspired a musical adaptation, 42nd Street
    42nd Street (musical)
    42nd Street is a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, lyrics by Al Dubin, and music by Harry Warren. The 1980 Broadway production, directed by an ailing Gower Champion and orchestrated by Philip J. Lang, won the Tony Award for Best Musical and became a long-running hit...

    .
  • Popular gadget magazine Stuff
    Stuff (magazine)
    Stuff is a men's magazine featuring reviews of consumer electronics, and other articles of interest to a predominantly male audience.- UK edition :...

     did not produce an issue numbered 42, in honor of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, instead, the 41st issue was followed by the 43rd.
  • The designation within ISO/IEC JTC1/SC7
    ISO/IEC JTC1
    ISO/IEC JTC 1 is Joint Technical Committee 1 of the International Organization for Standardization and the International Electrotechnical Commission . It deals with all matters of information technology....

     of its working group on Architecture was chosen to be "WG 42" because architecture is the answer to "Life, the Universe and Everything", skipping over designations 26 through 41.
  • Using the encoding A=1, B=2, C=3, etc., the sum of the codes of the letters in the words "BIG BANG" is 42.

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