The Answer Trivia Quiz

Answer:

All positive integers ending in 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8 are even numbers and, therefore, divisible by 2.

Prime factorization, also known as integer factorization, is a mathematical process that breaks down a given integer into a product of smaller integers. For example, 42 can be expressed as 2×3×7, which is a product of three prime numbers. This makes 42 a composite number.

Pronic numbers, being the product of two consecutive integers, are always even. The first few pronic numbers are 0, 2, 6, 12, 20, 30, and 42.

The number 42 is the 16th practical number. When Srinivasan introduced the term in 1948, he commented "the subdivisions of money, weights, and measures involve numbers like 4, 12, 16, 20 and 28 which are usually supposed to be so inconvenient as to deserve replacement by powers of 10."

The first few abundant numbers are 12, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, and 42. It is interesting to note that 945 is the smallest odd abundant number.

The term Harshad, meaning "giving joy" in Sanskrit, was coined by Indian mathematician D. R. Kaprekar (1905 - 1986).

Catalan numbers are named after French mathematician Eugène Charles Catalan (1814 - 1894). The first few Catalan numbers are 1, 1, 2, 5, 14, and 42.

Works on primary pseudoperfect numbers began in 2000, where mathematicians employed rigorous search techniques in search of these elusive integers.

Binary numbers are numbers that are expressed in base 2. The number 101010 in base 2, is equivalent to 1 × 2^5 + 0 × 2^4 + 1 × 2^3 + 0 × 2^2 + 1 × 2^1 + 0 × 2^0 = 42 in base 10.

In "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (1979), penned by English author Douglas Adams, the number 42 is "the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything".

In 1993, Adams provided the following response when he was asked about the choice of the number. "The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story."

The next time you roll a pair of dice in a game of Monopoly, try counting the total number of pips on the two dice. The answer? 42!