For context, 42 was the only remaining number below 100 where it wasn’t known if this was possible. The general problem of exactly which numbers are the sum of three cubes is unsolved.<p><a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sums_of_three_cubes" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sums_of_three_cubes</a>
I’ve just seen that my tweet is here!<p>If anyone wants more details, I wrote a more detailed account, which has just been published at <a href="https://aperiodical.com/2019/09/42-is-the-answer-to-the-question-what-is-80538738812075974%c2%b3-80435758145817515%c2%b3-12602123297335631%c2%b3/" rel="nofollow">https://aperiodical.com/2019/09/42-is-the-answer-to-the-ques...</a>
See also <a href="https://twitter.com/robinhouston/status/1169877007045296128" rel="nofollow">https://twitter.com/robinhouston/status/1169877007045296128</a>. I was prompted the twitter link has been submitted but wasn't able to find it.<p>Edit: And apologies for using unicode ㊷ in the title, the ascii 42 was removed from the title after initial submission.
This is a great announcement; it reminds me of the legendary story of Frank Nelson Cole wordlessly announcing his factorization of 2^67 - 1: <a href="https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Nelson_Cole" rel="nofollow">https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Nelson_Cole</a>
We can easily verify using SymPy on live.sympy.org:<p><a href="https://live.sympy.org/?evaluate=(-80538738812075974)**3%20%2B%2080435758145817515**3%20%2B%2012602123297335631**3%0A%23--%0A" rel="nofollow">https://live.sympy.org/?evaluate=(-80538738812075974)**3%20%...</a>
What about zero? Can zero be the sum of three cubes? Actually, I read that somebody proved it can't be done, but the proof is too long to fit in this comment. ;-)
Here's a Numberphile video about this news.
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyG8Vlw5aAw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyG8Vlw5aAw</a>
_randomly pulling letters out of a scrabble bag_<p>(-80538738812075974)^3 + 80435758145817515^3 + 12602123297335631^3 is 42?<p>42?!<p>I always said there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.
Ignoring the century in the year, I love the coincidence that this question was first asked in the year '54 and in "Hitchhiker's", it's said that 6x9 and 42 are the same. In fact they are if 6x9 is base 10 (6x9=54), and 42 is base 13 (4x13+2 = 54).<p>So, we get three coincidences: This question was asked in '54 ; "Hitchhiker's" said the answer to the meaning of life is 54 (6x9, 42 base 13); and best of all, 42 was the last number solved. And if you want to add one more coincidence, this was solved in the year '19 (connecting 19 and 54).<p>All irrelevant coincidences applied with hindsight, but fun.<p>(Douglas Adams claimed that 42 was a randomly chosen number, but I'd argue his subconscious had been processing the idea for a while and gave him a number with a meaning. We just don't know which is the correct meaning.)
checks out
<a href="https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28-80538738812075974%29%5E3+%2B+80435758145817515%5E3+%2B+12602123297335631%5E3+" rel="nofollow">https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=%28-80538738812075974%...</a>
Hey guys, Mark from Charity Engine here.<p>If anyone else could use planetary-scale computing (potentially for free, if your project is really cool), then come and talk to us.<p>The CE grid has over 2 million CPU cores, 600k+ unique IP addresses, can run anything in a Docker container and has integration with Ethereum. Adding Kubernetes and GPU support as we speak.<p>You can fire it up with 8 clicks, easier than AWS. This is literally a fully-functional worldwide computer.<p>PS. It's not just ridiculously huge, it is also ridiculously cheap :)
Here's a great video by numberphile on the subject <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASoz_NuIvP0" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASoz_NuIvP0</a>
i love bc, just to verify :<p>bc 1.07.1
Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2012-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
For details type `warranty'.<p>(-80538738812075974)^3 + 80435758145817515^3 + 12602123297335631^3<p>42