Monkeys Will Never Type Shakespeare, Study Finds

Two Australian mathematicians have cast doubt on an old adage: that if given an infinite amount of time, a monkey randomly pressing keys on a typewriter would eventually produce the complete works of William Shakespeare, Hannah Ritchie reported for BBC News.

A new peer-reviewed study led by Sydney-based researchers Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta suggests that the time required for a monkey to replicate Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, and poems would exceed the lifespan of our universe.

Known as the "infinite monkey theorem," the thought experiment has long illustrated principles of probability and randomness.

However, a new peer-reviewed study led by Sydney-based researchers Stephen Woodcock and Jay Falletta suggests that the time required for a monkey to replicate Shakespeare’s plays, sonnets, and poems would exceed the lifespan of our universe.

This means that while the theorem is mathematically sound, it is "misleading," the researchers argue. The study also analyzed the scenario involving the global population of chimpanzees, estimated to be around 200,000.

Results indicated that even if every chimp typed one key per second until the end of the universe, they wouldn't come close to producing the Bard's works.

The probability of a single chimp typing the word "bananas" within its lifetime stands at a mere 5%. Meanwhile, the likelihood of a chimp randomly typing a coherent sentence, like "I chimp, therefore I am," is approximately one in 10 million billion billion, the study indicates.