# Has anyone looked for shakespeare in random digits? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 1, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452 "2012-03-01T15:40:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/41 "2012-03-07T18:51:01Z")
I’ll send that to my word-search-junkie sister-in-law. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/42 "2012-03-07T19:13:41Z")
> [@MikeS](#): > > Here are the first 5,000 digits of pi, expressed in base 26, under the substitution 0 -\> A, 1 -\> B, … 25 -\> Z. (Thank you, Mathematica.) I wasn’t able to find any English words longer than four letters via quick inspection, but maybe other folks have sharper eyes than I do. There are three words of length 5 but none of length 6 or 7: ```auto $ for f in $(sort -f /usr/share/dict/british \ /usr/share/dict/american|uniq -i|\ egrep '^[[:alpha:]]{5,7}$');do fgrep -o -i $f /tmp/pi.txt ;done ADORL DWAMS HEROD $ ``` ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/43 "2012-03-07T20:41:46Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > Infinity is quite a bit bigger than that. Quoth Buzz, “Marry, to infinity and beyond!” EXEUNT Buzz. ---
**Author:** ![geneb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e4f/32.png) [@geneb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geneb)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/44 "2012-03-07T20:56:26Z")
I wrote a program a little while ago to test the “infinite monkeys” concept. The program generates a random number between 1 and 27 (it includes " ") for each letter in a given word or phrase. So, a 4 letter word would have it generate 4 letters individually then check the generated word against the given word. Adding even one character to the phrase to be found causes the number of attempts to rise drastically, as you can see below: “t” = 34 attempts “to” = 484 attempts "to " = 14,315 attempts “to b” = 1,808,104 attempts “to be” = 16,733,694 attempts "to be " = I gave up at 600,000,000 attempts If it can’t match a 6 character phrase in 600,000,000 attempts, I doubt we’d see any works of Shakespeare during the lifetime of the universe. If I were to actually use all possible characters on a typewriter I doubt it would be able to determine a 3 letter phrase in any reasonable amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2012, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/45 "2012-03-07T22:21:00Z")
> [@](#): > > EXEUNT Buzz. What, does he have a mouse in there? ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/46 "2012-03-08T08:01:04Z")
> [@Mike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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/47 "2012-03-08T19:09:52Z")
> [@cmyk](#): > > Band Name! The last five letters certainly could be. ---
**Author:** ![filmore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@filmore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmore)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/48 "2012-03-08T20:20:46Z")
I just noticed the OP has been banned. Maybe he found something in the random digits he wasn’t supposed to know. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452/49 "2012-03-08T21:16:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The last five letters certainly could be. Nice. 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-looked-for-shakespeare-in-random-digits/614452.md?page=2)