- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- Daniels throws five TDs as Commanders down Eagles, Lions and Vikings win
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin to talk gas deliveries
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 35
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Mbappe back from 'bottom' as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- France kept on tenterhooks over new government
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- 'Nervous' Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Germany pledges security inquest into Christmas market attack
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Joshua bout only fight left for beaten Fury says promoter Hearn
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
- France awaits appointment of new government
Not enough time in universe for monkeys to pen Shakespeare: study
If a monkey types randomly at a keyboard for long enough, it will eventually write the complete works of Shakespeare.
This thought experiment has long been used to express how an infinite amount of time makes something that is incredibly unlikely -- but still technically possible -- become probable.
But two Australian mathematicians have deemed the old adage misleading, working out that even if all the chimpanzees in the world were given the entire lifespan of the universe, they would "almost certainly" never pen the works of the bard.
The "infinite monkey theorem" has been around for more than a century, though its origin remains unclear. It is commonly attributed to either French mathematician Emile Borel or British anthropologist Thomas Huxley, and some even think the general idea dates back to Aristotle.
For a light-hearted but peer-reviewed study published earlier this week, the two mathematicians set out to determine what happens if generous yet finite limits were placed on the monkey typists.
Their calculations were based on a monkey spending around 30 years typing one key a second at a keyboard with 30 keys -- the letters of the English language plus some common punctuation.
The "heat death" of the universe was assumed to take place in around a googol of years -- that is a one followed by 100 zeroes.
Other more practical considerations -- such as what the monkeys would eat, or how they would survive the Sun engulfing Earth in a few billion years -- were set aside.
- Monkey labour falls short -
There was only around a five percent chance that a single monkey would randomly write the word "banana" in their lifetime, according to the study in the journal Franklin Open.
Shakespeare's canon includes 884,647 words -- none of them banana.
To broaden out the experiment, the mathematicians turned to chimpanzees, the closest relative of humans.
There are currently around 200,000 chimps on Earth, and the study presumed this population would remain stable until the end of time.
Even this massive monkey workforce fell very, very short.
"It's not even like one in a million," study co-author Stephen Woodcock of the University of Technology Sydney told New Scientist.
"If every atom in the universe was a universe in itself, it still wouldn't happen."
And even if many more chimps who typed much quicker were added to the equation, it was still not plausible "that monkey labour will ever be a viable tool for developing written works of anything beyond the trivial," the authors wrote in the study.
The study concluded by saying that Shakespeare himself may have inadvertently given an answer as to whether "monkey labour could meaningfully be a replacement for human endeavour as a source of scholarship or creativity".
"To quote Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 3, Line 87: 'No'."
D.Kaufman--AMWN