How long would it take monkeys to type Shakespeare? Could they do it – as the old adage suggests? Two mathematicians investigate

It is ‘almost certainly impossible’ for Shakespeare’s works to be completed by monkeys before the universe ends, finds study.

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Published: Friday, 01 November 2024 at 16:13 PM

Mathematicians have challenged the theorem that a monkey typing randomly on a keyboard for an indefinite period would eventually recreate the complete works of Shakespeare.

Findings of the new study concluded that even if all the chimpanzees in the world typed, it is ‘almost certainly impossible’ for the Bard’s entire works of approximately 884,647 words to be completed before the universe ends.

Testing the ‘Infinite Monkey Theorem,’ a scientific thought experiment used to illustrate the principles of probability and randomness, the mathematicians revealed it would take an immense amount of time – far longer than the lifespan of the universe for a typing monkey to randomly produce Shakespeare.

“The Infinite Monkey Theorem only considers the infinite limit, with either an infinite number of monkeys or an infinite time period of monkey labour,” mathematician and Associate Professor Stephen Woodcock University of Technology Sydney (UTS) said in a statement.

“We decided to look at the probability of a given string of letters being typed by a finite number of monkeys within a finite time period consistent with estimates for the lifespan of our universe,” he added.

Initial calculations were based on a single monkey spending about 30 years typing one key every second on a keyboard using letters of the English alphabet and common punctuation marks.

Mathematicians also calculated the typing efficiency of human’s closest living relative, the chimpanzee, to see if the current global chimpanzee population of around 200,000 had more success in reproducing the works of Shakespeare.

Published in the journal Franklin Open, the findings show there is just a 5% chance that a single chimp could even type the word ‘bananas’ in its own lifetime.

“It is not plausible that, even with improved typing speeds or an increase in chimpanzee populations, monkey labour will ever be a viable tool for developing non-trivial written works,” the mathematicians concluded.

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