1. Mathlet?

2. “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.” The most popular example referenced in this theorem? You guessed it. HAMLET.

3. So is that true?
If you’re really into math, or monkeys, you can check out these links sometime:
involves a bunch of math nerds discussing the mathematical probability
talks about an experiment to test whether it was possible
runs down both the theory and the experiment above, wherein my favorite section is “Real Monkeys,” wherein appears my favorite quote from the article: “Not only did the monkeys produce nothing but five pages consisting largely of the letter S, the lead male began by bashing the keyboard with a stone, and the monkeys continued by urinating and defecating on it.”

4. One website sums it up like this (after doing a bunch of maths to prove it’s so):
“[If we were to imagine up] 17 billion galaxies, each containing 17 billion habitable planets, each planet with 17 billion monkeys each typing away and producing one line per second for 17 billion years… What are the chances of the phrase "TO BE OR NOT TO BE, THAT IS THE QUESTION." not being included in the output?
[In other words, it’s] about % sure [sic] that they would fail to produce the sentence.”

5. And for a little taste of probability at work…

6. So I guess it’s not as likely as one might think.

7. Why are you showing us this, Mitchell. Seriously.
Well, I was digging for some cross-curricular connections, but it got me thinking about these things that people sometimes say about literature…
“What if Shakespeare didn’t actually INTEND for these ‘symbols’ and ‘foils’ and whatnot to be in the writing? What if he just sat down to write a good story?”
Or about poetry: “Man, I’ll just string together a bunch of words and it’ll probably, like, earn a Pulitzer or something. Sheesh.”
The whole monkey-at-a-keyboard thing seems like a good metaphor for the idea that art, unlike respectable forms of work, is accidental; that the process of making art is less about planning and thought and craft and something that literally a monkey could do.

8. That’s offensive.
But math says it’s also UNTRUE! So there.

9. So math wins at literature?

10. More maths for you!
Go here to read about how statistics can be used to determine, among other things, how many times Hamlet speaks in comparison to protagonists from other Shakespeare plays.
Prove your ability to know what Hamlet is all about by telling me why this quantum theory is called “The Hamlet Effect.”