Re: [OT] Monkey & Type-writers

[Doogie Brodie <ukhad@xxxxxxx>]

steve.cooper@xxxxxxx wrote:

>I saw this story earlier in the week and couldn't believe they got
money
>for this type of research.  What exactly were they trying to prove, the
>statement they are testing is about an infinite number of monkeys. 
It's
>purpose is to demonstrate the nature of infinite you can't test it.
>
>I think I shall apply for a £10K resource grant to prove that every
whole
>number has a successor.  I shall start by writing a small program that
adds
>one on each iteration and let it run until I die or until it crashes
>because it found a number that can't have 1 added to it.
>
>World gone mad!!!
>
Yeah, I posted it on IRC the other day.
/me imagines the scene

Researcher 1: "You know that thing about infinite monkeys with
typewriters?"
Researcher 2: "Yeah, we could investigate that to stop us doing work
for
a while and get some silly funding"
Researcher 1: "Right, first we need to buy an infinite number of
monkeys
and typewriters"
Researcher 2: "How much is an infinite number?"
Researcher 1: "Erm...... I seem to remember it's something to do with
42
or something"
Researcher 2: "We can't waste the fund on that many monkeys &
typewriters, what would we use to buy beer with?"
Researcher 1: "Well 4+2 is close enough, how many's that?"
Researcher 2: "Erm........."
Researcher 1: "*gets calculator* 6, yes, an infinite number of monkeys
and typewriters must be the same as 6 monkeys and typewriters"
Researcher 2: "Lets go to the pub"

Or something!

--
Doogie