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P0LL: Do you think given enough time, a monkey with a typewriter can type up Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary?

ManSnake

ManSnake

Diamond Member
Do you think given enough time, a monkey with a typewriter can type up Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition with CD-ROM and Online Subscription?
 
Only if you give it enough time to evolve into a species that is intelligent enough to comprehend the english language.
 
In an infinite situation, all things CAN happen, but all things DON'T happen because odds and chance come into play.
 
All of you that answered 'Yes' are fools. If it was only the dictionary, then with infinite time, it could happen. But in the P0LL I put 'with CD-ROM and Online Subscription'. With only a typewriter, the monkey simply can't produce a CD-ROM. So you lose!!!
 
Originally posted by: ManSnake
All of you that answered 'Yes' are fools. If it was only the dictionary, then with infinite time, it could happen. But in the P0LL I put 'with CD-ROM and Online Subscription'. With only a typewriter, the monkey simply can't produce a CD-ROM. So you lose!!!
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I'm the winner! Yes!

 
The infinite monkey theorem is relatively straightforward to prove. If two events are statistically independent, meaning neither affects the outcome of the other, then the probability of both happening is equivalent to the product of the probabilities of each one happening on its own. For example, if the chance of rain in Sydney on a particular day is 0.3 and the chance of an earthquake in San Francisco on that day is 0.8, the chance of both happening on that same day is 0.3 × 0.8 = 0.24.

Now, suppose the typewriter has 50 keys, and the monkey is trying to type the word "banana". Typing at random, the chance that the first letter typed is b is 1/50, as is the chance that the second letter typed is a, and so on. These events are independent, so the chance of the first six letters matching "banana" is 1/506. For the same reason, the chance that the next 6 letters match "banana" is also 1/506, and so on.

Now, the chance of not typing "banana" in each block of 6 letters is 1 - 1/506. Because each block is typed independently, the chance, X, of not typing "banana" in any of the first n blocks of 6 letters is X = (1 - 1/506)n. As n gets larger and larger, this number X gets smaller and smaller. For an n of a million, X is 99.99%, but for an n of 10 billion it is 53% and for an n of 100 billion it is 0.17%. As n approaches infinity, the probability X asymptotically approaches zero, that is by making n large enough X can be made as small as one likes. If we were to count occurrences of "banana" that crossed blocks, X would approach zero even more quickly. The same argument applies if the monkey were typing any other string of characters of any length.

The same argument shows why infinitely many monkeys produce a text as quickly as it would be produced by a human typist copying it from the original. In this case X = (1 - 1/506)n where 'X' represents the probability that none of the first n monkeys types "banana" correctly on their first try. When we consider 100 billion monkeys, the probability falls to 0.17%, and as the number of monkeys, n increases to infinity the value of X (the probability of a monkey failing to reproduce a given text) decreases to zero. (This is equivalent to stating that the probability that one or more of an infinite number of monkeys will produce a given text, on the first try, is 100%, or, that it is certain they will do so.)
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Originally posted by: ManSnake
All of you that answered 'Yes' are fools. If it was only the dictionary, then with infinite time, it could happen. But in the P0LL I put 'with CD-ROM and Online Subscription'. With only a typewriter, the monkey simply can't produce a CD-ROM. So you lose!!!
Click to expand...

There is enough mass in a typewriter to produce a CDROM. The exact make and model of the typewriter would determine whether or not it could actually be done in a standards-compliant method.
 
Originally posted by: alexeikgb
Originally posted by: MrChad
Infinite Monkey Theorem
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Nice read.... :thumbsup:
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It is a good starting point, but they left off the one thing that I asked about above. Suppose the probability of typing 'banana' is 1/50^6 on a 50 key keyboard when just 6 keys are typed. That probability is quite small. However, it assumes the typer can only speak/type one language. Think about German, the word for banana is 'banane'. Therefore, the monkey could type 'banana' or 'banane' and get the same meaning across.

Therefore using two languages, the probability of having that noun typed in six keystrokes is 2/50^6. For n languages - languages where banana has 6 or fewer letters - the probability is n/50^6. There are an infinite number of possible languages. Thus the probability of a monkey typing that noun on a typewriter is (infinity)/(50^6). Infinity is larger than 50^6. Thus there is a 100% chance that just one monkey will type banana in some language by only hitting 6 keys.
 
Originally posted by: alexeikgb
Originally posted by: MrChad
Infinite Monkey Theorem
Click to expand...

Nice read.... :thumbsup:
Click to expand...


In 2003, scientists at Paignton Zoo and the University of Plymouth, in Devon in England reported that they had left a computer keyboard in the enclosure of six Sulawesi Crested Macaques for a month; not only did the monkeys produce nothing but five pages consisting largely of the letter S, they started by attacking the keyboard with a stone, and continued by urinating and defecating on it.

wow, sounds like ATOT on a good day.
 
Originally posted by: Yossarian
Originally posted by: alexeikgb
Originally posted by: MrChad
Infinite Monkey Theorem
Click to expand...

Nice read.... :thumbsup:
Click to expand...


In 2003, scientists at Paignton Zoo and the University of Plymouth, in Devon in England reported that they had left a computer keyboard in the enclosure of six Sulawesi Crested Macaques for a month; not only did the monkeys produce nothing but five pages consisting largely of the letter S, they started by attacking the keyboard with a stone, and continued by urinating and defecating on it.

wow, sounds like ATOT on a good day.
Click to expand...

:laugh:
 
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