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The Diophantine Equation in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

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This is a bit of a larger resolution version of this entry in the movie collection. It is prompted by the recent discovery of a solution to the Diophantine equation x3 + y3 + z3=42, which is x=-80538738812075974; y=80435758145817515; z=12602123297335631; x^3+y^3+z^3 = 42 found by Andrew Booker from the University of Bristol and Andrew Sutherland. There are still quite a few such computational challenges ahead. We don’t know an answer to x^3 + y^3 + z^3=k for k=114,165,390,579,627,633,732,795,906,921,975 yet. But of course, nothing is as cool as finding the answer to k=42.