[ WP ] You Discover that The Answer to the Universe is in fact 41 ...

I'd been putting it off all night. I had done the dishes, put out the bin, walked the dog, fed the cat, cut my toenails, alphabetized my DVD collection, hoovered the stairs, cleaned the toilet and even washed behind my ears. There was nothing left to distract myself with. I would have to do my algebra homework. 
 
 `` A postal van leaves London traveling at 45mph along the M1. What time will it reach Bristol with its delivery?'' 
 
 Word problems. Curse them! 
 
 I wrote out the variables with my pencil and began to simplify and reduce the problem. But somehow my equation just was n't balanced. I tried to account for unmentioned variables that might affect the problem: wind speed, tire temperature, the weight of the ink on each letter... 
 
 Soon my entire table was covered with messy scraps of notebook paper. Nothing was fitting together. There was something missing. 
 
 My younger sister pulled open my bedroom door to show me a weird booger she had plucked, causing a quick breeze to scatter the papers on my desk. 
 
 Angry, I told her to leave and stooped to gather the pages back together when I saw it. A simple subtraction error. 
 
 With my eraser I quickly rectified my mistake. I carried the two and expanded the brackets, solving for x. 
 
 And there it was. `` 41''. I took a moment to appreciate the number. It was beautiful. It seemed like the answer to everything. It all made sense. 
 
 Yet I was left wondering. What was the question? 
 

