Numbers vs. Words Round 20: Olf vs. 42

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Numbers versus words, round 20.

[00:00:03]Olf versus 42 So, it's not what you're thinking. 42 is not the answer to the universe and everything as as described in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. 42 is actually or was the last remaining number between 1 to 100 that we found uh could be written as the sum of three cubes.

[00:00:28]So, it was a famous problem posed uh at Cambridge University in 1954.

[00:00:33]>> Mhm. Which was to say you want to take three numbers which are all cubes. So, x cubed plus y cubed plus z cubed. You want to work out what x, y, and z are.

[00:00:42]So, they're all cubes.

[00:00:44]Can you add together three cubes to get all of the numbers 1 through to 100? Three cube numbers added together to give you one, to give you two, to give you three. And they can all be different numbers each time.

[00:00:55]>> Yeah. And so, this is posed in 1954 as a fun problem.

[00:00:58]>> Yes. Took until 2019 Wow. before we actually figured out you could do it. Yeah.

[00:01:05]>> So, up until 2019, both 33 and 42 were the remaining unsolved ones. We couldn't figure out what those cubes were to get them. And then a team at the University of Bristol, they found 33. And then it was just 42 was left. And then everyone got really excited and be like, "It's the last one."

[00:01:24]>> Yeah. Um and then they worked with some scientists at MIT and they got it. So, they got x y and z. They said they got the three numbers when you cube them and add them together, you get 42. My word is olf.

[00:01:37]Um I only discovered this uh quite recently that uh this is the official measurement of smell.

[00:01:44]Okay. So, um I've I'm going to have to look at this. It's a scientific unit based on the average office worker who's generally sedentary, takes on average 0.7 bars a day, um has a skin area of 1.8 square meters and can only keep sufficiently warm but doesn't overdo it, okay? That is the olf. That is the basis for the measurement of an olf and it was introduced by a Danish professor called Ole Fanger. And he based it on the Latin olfactus meaning smell which gave us olfactory but obviously it's a bit of a riff on his name as well, Ole Fanger.

[00:02:19]Um, and it's used to measure pollution as well as smells. Um, but I love this.

[00:02:23]So, a smoker gives off about olfs.

[00:02:27]They're quite a lot. But an athlete marginally more at 30. Uh, please don't take this as a license to smoke or do any exercise um, based on your olf output. Um, but you know, there are so many that as far as I know have not yet been olf measured like a wet dog for example which is going to be off the scale. Um, but yeah, only discovered it recently that that is the official unit for the measurement of smell. So, which one is your favorite? 42 or olf?

[00:02:55]Let us know in the comments and vote in the poll.