scott <sco### [at] scottcom> wrote:
> Just to assume "the works" are W letter long, then the probability of a 
> random sequnce R of length W exactly matching is 64^-W (assuming 64 
> characters here).  Then, the probability of R *not* matching is (1-64^-W). 
> If we take N sequences of random letters, then the probability of finding 
> "the works" is given by  1-(1-64^-W)^N, which *equals* 1 in the limit of N 
> tending to infinity.

  So exactly at which point are the works forced to appear, to fulfill
the probability of 1?

  The answer is: They are never forced to appear. And that is not a
contradiction of the probability being 1 when dealing with infinity
(any more than a value in a continuous range having a probability of
zero is a contradiction that that value might be chosen at random).

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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