The Bistromath

E290435

fictional starship spacecraft vehicle in fiction

The Bistromath is a highly advanced, perception-warping starship in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, powered by the absurdly complex mathematics of restaurant bills.

Try in SPARQL Jump to: Surface forms Disambiguation Statements Elicitation Referenced by

All labels observed (2)

Label	Occurrences
Bistromathics	2
The Bistromath canonical	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T2695461 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Bistromath
Context triple: [Slartibartfast, associatedWith, The Bistromath]

A. Mathematical Carnival
Mathematical Carnival is a popular collection of Martin Gardner’s recreational mathematics essays, featuring puzzles, paradoxes, and mathematical curiosities originally presented in his Scientific American column.
B. Mathematical Circus
Mathematical Circus is a popular collection of recreational mathematics puzzles and essays by Martin Gardner, showcasing his playful and insightful approach to mathematical curiosities.
C. Crumbs from Your Table
"Crumbs from Your Table" is a song by the Irish rock band U2 from their 2004 album *How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb*, noted for its critique of global inequality and Western complacency.
D. Arithmoi
Arithmoi is the Greek title of the biblical Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
E. The Insatiable Appetite
"The Insatiable Appetite" is an episode of the nature documentary series *The Life of Birds* that explores the diverse feeding strategies and remarkable adaptations birds use to find and consume food.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: The Bistromath
Target entity description: The Bistromath is a highly advanced, perception-warping starship in Douglas Adams' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series, powered by the absurdly complex mathematics of restaurant bills.

A. Mathematical Carnival
Mathematical Carnival is a popular collection of Martin Gardner’s recreational mathematics essays, featuring puzzles, paradoxes, and mathematical curiosities originally presented in his Scientific American column.
B. Mathematical Circus
Mathematical Circus is a popular collection of recreational mathematics puzzles and essays by Martin Gardner, showcasing his playful and insightful approach to mathematical curiosities.
C. Crumbs from Your Table
"Crumbs from Your Table" is a song by the Irish rock band U2 from their 2004 album *How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb*, noted for its critique of global inequality and Western complacency.
D. Arithmoi
Arithmoi is the Greek title of the biblical Book of Numbers, the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
E. The Insatiable Appetite
"The Insatiable Appetite" is an episode of the nature documentary series *The Life of Birds* that explores the diverse feeding strategies and remarkable adaptations birds use to find and consume food.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (38)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	fictional starship ⓘ spacecraft ⓘ vehicle in fiction ⓘ
appearsIn	Life, the Universe and Everything ⓘ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ⓘ surface form: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
associatedWith	Arthur Dent ⓘ Ford Prefect ⓘ Slartibartfast ⓘ
category	fictional spacecraft introduced in the 1980s ⓘ
conceptualBasis	unreliable arithmetic in restaurants ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	United Kingdom ⓘ
creator	Douglas Adams ⓘ
feature	perception-warping capabilities ⓘ probability manipulation ⓘ space-time distortion ⓘ
fictionalStatus	does not exist in real world ⓘ
firstPublicationAuthor	Douglas Adams ⓘ
genre	comic science fiction technology ⓘ
humorStyle	absurdist ⓘ satirical ⓘ
languageOfWork	English ⓘ
medium	novel ⓘ
metaphorFor	observer-dependent reality ⓘ unpredictability of complex systems ⓘ
nameOrigin	bistro mathematics ⓘ
narrativeRole	source of comic explanation of mathematics ⓘ transport for main characters ⓘ
operatingPrinciple	mathematical properties of restaurant bills ⓘ numbers change depending on observation and context ⓘ
partOf	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ⓘ surface form: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy franchise
poweredBy	absurdly complex mathematics of restaurant bills ⓘ
propulsionMethod	The Bistromath self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Bistromathics
relatedConcept	The Bistromath self-linksurface differs ⓘ surface form: Bistromathics Infinite Improbability Drive ⓘ
technologyType	improbability-based drive ⓘ
theme	parody of scientific rationality ⓘ satire of advanced physics ⓘ
universe	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ⓘ surface form: Hitchhiker's Guide universe

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Slartibartfast → associatedWith → The Bistromath ⓘ

The Bistromath → propulsionMethod → The Bistromath self-linksurface differs ⓘ

this entity surface form: Bistromathics

The Bistromath → relatedConcept → The Bistromath self-linksurface differs ⓘ