How long would it actually take a monkey to write the entire works of Shakespeare before he could retire?
We always hear about how the hypothetical monkey would eventually do it given limitless time, but has anyone ever tried to calculate how long it would or might actually take? Is it even possible to hazard a guess? Any smart Yahoo answers maths 'top contributors' out there gonna try and figure this one out? Tony B - you shouldn't take my tongue-in-cheek question so seriously, and besides it would probably be in the order of a googleplex of googleplexes of years before retirement beckoned for our exhausted and immortal monkey.
Public Comments
- You really shouldn't take it that seriously! it's just a way of making the point that ANYTHING is possible, given enough time. And yes, it is possible to hazard a guess, mine would be precisely 12.3 million years, give or take a week or two. And the monkey would HAVE to be a Chimp! Otherwise all bets are of. Oh, shucks! I just realised, chimpanzees are not monkeys. I withdraw my estimate.
- My own research with a Chinese golden monkey shows it would take 11 years and seven months for the monkey to complete this task
