1mo ago

Typing monkey would be unable to produce 'Hamlet' within the lifetime of the universe, study finds

phys.org Typing monkey would be unable to produce 'Hamlet' within the lifetime of the universe, study finds

A new study reveals it would take far longer than the lifespan of our universe for a typing monkey to randomly produce Shakespeare. So, while the Infinite Monkey Theorem is true, it is also somewhat misleading.

The question that everyone has been dying to know has been answered. Finally! What will scientists study next?

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Typing monkey would be unable to produce 'Hamlet' within the lifetime of the universe, study finds

phys.org /news/2024-10-monkey-unable-hamlet-lifetime-universe.html

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I've read there are so many permutations of a standard deck of 52 playing cards, that in all the times decks have been shuffled through history, there's almost no chance any given arrangement has ever been repeated. If we could teach monkeys to shuffle cards I wonder how long it would take them to do it.
- There are 8.0658*10^67 orders you can shuffle a card deck in.
  The math is easy. It's just 52! if your calculator has that function which is really 525150...32*1. There are 52 possibilities for the first card 51 for the second since you've already used one card and so on.
  How many decks of cards have been shuffled over human history, or will be is beyond me.
  
  For those who are confused, the comment meant to say
  52*51*50*....*3*2*1
  i.e. 52 × 51 × 50 × ... × 3 × 2 × 1
  Markdown syntax screwed it up.
  
  Oh I didn't notice it did that. thanks for fixing it.
  
  Yeah that's the part that isn't easy.

196 comments