1. Probability and Chance, Fritz Mauthner's Studies of Improbability

GA 163/1915-08-23/p018 ·1915-08-23 · English MediumMedium alignmentSome paragraph re-numbering between this translation and the German original — the locus may slip by a paragraph or two.
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> I entertained myself working out an approximate calculation of the probability of a chance emergence of Goethe's Faust from this experiment. There was no need to bother about a few decimal places in the decimal part of the logarithm, and I magnanimously upped the probability by allowing for one hundred typographical errors and still recognizing the product as genuinely Faust, thus giving it a more than generous benefit of the doubt. Faust contains approximately \(300,000\) letters. Now the probability of striking the right key at every touch is not exactly small; it is almost \(1\) out of \(100\), since there are about \(100\) different symbols.

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Cite: GA 163/1915-08-23/p018 · edition English