Suppose that a monkey sits at the computer keyboard and randomly strikes the 26 letter keys and the space bar. Find the probability that its first 39 characters (including space bar) will be "To be or not to be that is the question" .
A) $\frac { C ( 39,27 ) } { 39 ! }$
B) $\frac { C ( 39,27 ) } { 27 ^ { 39 } }$
C) $\frac { 1 } { 27 ^ { 39 } }$
D) $\frac { 39 } { 27 ^ { 38 } }$
E) $\frac { 1 } { 27 ^ { 38 } }$

Question

Suppose that a monkey sits at the computer keyboard and randomly strikes the 26 letter keys and the space bar. Find the probability that its first 39 characters (including space bar) will be "To be or not to be that is the question" .  
A) $\frac { C ( 39,27 ) } { 39 ! }$
B) $\frac { C ( 39,27 ) } { 27 ^ { 39 } }$
C) $\frac { 1 } { 27 ^ { 39 } }$
D) $\frac { 39 } { 27 ^ { 38 } }$
E) $\frac { 1 } { 27 ^ { 38 } }$

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The probability is calculated as the chance of hitting each specific character in the sequence correctly out of 27 possible characters (26 letters + space bar), which is $\frac{1}{27}$ for each character. Since there are 39 characters to match exactly, the probability is $\frac{1}{27^{39}}$.

Suppose That a Monkey Sits at the Computer Keyboard and Randomly