
Infinite monkey theorem
Counterintuitive result in probability

Counterintuitive result in probability
The infinite monkey theorem states that a monkey hitting keys independently and at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will almost surely type any given text, including the complete works of William Shakespeare. More precisely, under the assumption of independence and randomness of each keystroke, the monkey would almost surely type every possible finite text an infinite number of times. The theorem can be generalized to state that any infinite sequence of independent events whose probabilities are uniformly bounded below by a positive number will almost surely have infinitely many occurrences. In this context, "almost surely" is a mathematical term meaning the event happens with probability 1, and the "monkey" is not an actual monkey, but a metaphor for an abstract device that produces an endless random sequence of letters and symbols. Variants of the theorem include multiple and even infinitely many independent typists, and the target text varies between an...
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