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LiveScience
LiveScience
Marilyn Perkins

BIZARRE: Could monkeys really type the complete works of shakespeare - What They Never Told You

An illustration of many colorful monkeys typing on typewriters.

Given an infinite amount of time, an infinite number of monkeys randomly prodding keys on a typewriter could, in theory, eventually replicate the works of William Shakespeare. At least, that's what a thought experiment called the infinite monkey theorem states.

The infinite monkey theorem was first proposed by mathematician Émile Borel in 1913, and it's been a popular way to understand randomness and probability for decades. But could a monkey really type out Shakespeare?

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