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42 is the answer to the question “what is (-80538738812075974)³ + 80435758145817515³ + 12602123297335631³?”

By Robin Houston. Posted September 6, 2019

We now know that the number 42 can be written as the sum of three cubes:

$$42=(-80538738812075974{)}^3+{80435758145817515}^3+{12602123297335631}^3$$

This computational breakthrough was achieved in a collaboration between Andrew Sutherland (MIT) and Andrew Booker (Bristol). They announced the result by both replacing their homepages with the expression – with the page title Life, the Universe and Everything.