Using this crowdsourced supercomputer and 1 million hours of processing time, Booker and Sutherland finally found an answer to the Diophantine equation where k equals 42.Īnd so, without further ado, the question AND answer to the meaning of life, the universe and everything is: Calculating values that large would take an insane amount of computing power so, for his next attempt, Booker enlisted the help of Massachusetts Institute of Technology mathematician Andrew Sutherland, who helped Booker book some time with a worldwide computer network called Charity Engine.Īccording to a statement from the University of Bristol, this network is a 'worldwide computer' that borrows idle computing power from more than 500,000 home PCs around the globe.

Still, this exhaustive search turned up no solutions for 42, suggesting that, if there was an answer, some of the integers must be greater than 99 quadrillion. (Image credit: Numberphile/ University of Bristol) It only took one of the world's smartest computers to solve. Lastly but not leastly a special mention has to go out to Jim Henson's creature workshop, this is probably the best work they have ever done in a feature, and that's saying a lot, given their success.Here's 33 expressed as the sum of three cubes. I was half expecting the pop video influence to be apparent, but thankfully it wasn't. For a feature directorial debut Garth Jennings does a grand job. The 'Guides' animated sequences are wonderfully reminiscent of Saul Bellow and though simple they are hilarious. Stephen Fry steps well into the shoes vacated by Peter Jones as the 'Guides' voice and you feel as if you are in safe hands. Simon Jones makes a welcome cameo appearance as a holographic warning system. Bill Nighy marries his own idiosyncrasies into the character of Slartibartfast seamlessly. At times her dialogue seemed to get lost and her character seemed weaker than Sandra Dickinson's interpretation in the radio and TV series.

Sam Rockwell, Mos Def and Martin Freeman all carry off their characters with wit and style whilst I felt Zooey Deschanel looked a little out of her depth. John Malkovich is great albeit very briefly as religious leader Humma Kavula. There's a new character or two written in for the film by Adams himself and they add to the overall story. As for the film, many of the original and wonderful lines thankfully remain and the plot is largely unchanged. A fitting credit at the end of the film 'For Douglas' serves as a gentle reminder of the genius we have all lost. Not surprising as Adams wrote the screenplay and was on the verge of having his dream realised when he suffered a fatal heart attack. This is a good and faithful recreation of Adams' brilliantly sketchy radio series.

Douglas adams answer to life