Infinite Monkeys: Improbability of Writing Shakespeare

A recent study by two Australian mathematicians has debunked the popular infinite monkey theorem, suggesting that even if all the chimpanzees in the world were given the entire lifespan of the universe, they would 'almost certainly' never pen the complete works of Shakespeare.

The infinite monkey theorem posits that given infinite time, a monkey randomly typing on a keyboard would eventually produce any given text, such as Shakespeare's works.

The idea dates back over a century and is attributed to either French mathematician Emile Borel or British anthropologist Thomas Huxley, or even as far back as Aristotle.

The mathematicians' light-hearted but peer-reviewed study, published in the journal Franklin Open, used calculations where a monkey typed one key per second on a 30-key keyboard over a 30-year lifespan.

They assumed the universe's 'heat death' to occur in a googol years (a one followed by 100 zeros).

The study did not consider practical survival factors like food or environmental changes.

The results showed only a five percent chance for a monkey to randomly type the word 'banana' in its lifetime.

Shakespeare's works comprise 884,647 words, with none being 'banana.' Expanding the experiment to include Earth's approximate 200,000 chimpanzees stable until the universe's end, the study revealed an insurmountably low probability.

Co-author Stephen Woodcock of the University of Technology Sydney emphasized the impracticality, noting, 'If every atom in the universe was a universe in itself, it still wouldn't happen.' Additional chimps typing faster wouldn't solve the issue either.

The study wittily concluded with a quote from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet' as an answer to the viability of monkey labour as a source of creativity: 'No.'