mad science

[cgwymp]

Ok, I have my towel..................................
Ron.

You hoopy frood, you.... ;-)

[quinnf]

...
"What do you get when you multiply 8 times 6?"  
...

Actually, the question is

"What do you get when multiply 6 by 9?"

and you get bonus points if you know how that works out to 42, which is the answer given much earlier.

You're right.  It's been a while since I read it, but the irony was the point. 

But in base 13 it works, though Adams himself said that was too much of a stretch for him at the time.

q.

[AdeV]

I believe the reason it came out as "what do you get if you multiply six by nine" - as discovered by Ford and Arthur when Arthur pulled scrabble letters at random out of a bag (this was as the original earthlings were dying out, being replaced by the Golgafrinchens), was because the program had become corrupted - indeed, since Arthur had to be descended from the Golgafrinchens, it's slightly surprising he was as close to the answer as he in fact was.