Infinite monkey theorem facts for kids

The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type a given text, such as the complete works of William Shakespeare. In fact the monkey would almost surely type every possible finite text an infinite number of times. However, the probability that monkeys filling the observable universe would type a complete work such as Shakespeare's Hamlet is so tiny that the chance of it occurring during a period of time hundreds of thousands of orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe is extremely low (but technically not zero).

When people talk about the infinite monkey theorem, the "monkey" is not always a real monkey. Instead, it is an example of a device that produces random letters. However, the chances of a monkey actually typing a text, like Shakespeare's Hamlet, are very small. In fact there is less than a one in a trillion chance of success that such a universe made of monkeys could type any particular document a mere 79 characters long.

In popular culture

The infinite monkey theorem and its associated imagery is considered a popular and proverbial illustration of the mathematics of probability, widely known to the general public because of its transmission through popular culture rather than through formal education. This is helped by the innate humor stemming from the image of literal monkeys rattling away on a set of typewriters, and is a popular visual gag.

In The Simpsons episode "Last Exit to Springfield," Mr. Burns shows Homer "a room with a thousand monkeys on a thousand typewriters. Soon they will have written the greatest novel known to man!"

In his 1978 radio play, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams invoked the theorem to illustrate the power of the 'Infinite Improbability Drive' that powered a spaceship. From Episode 2: "Ford, there's an infinite number of monkeys outside who want to talk to us about this script for Hamlet they've worked out."

A quotation attributed to a 1996 speech by Robert Wilensky stated, "We've heard that a million monkeys at a million keyboards could produce the complete works of Shakespeare; now, thanks to the Internet, we know that is not true."

Images for kids

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  Chimpanzee probably not typing Hamlet

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  Thomas Huxley is sometimes misattributed with proposing a variant of the theory in his debates with Samuel Wilberforce.

See also

In Spanish: Teorema del mono infinito para niños