Problem with algorithm

[Paul McGuire]

Re: Problem with algorithm

On Apr 13, 10:22 am, Michael Bentley <mich...@jedimi ndworks.com>
wrote:

On Apr 13, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Paul McGuire wrote:
>

If you just expand the length to five million* or so, one of those
strings will contain all the works of Shakespeare.

>
Not likely, even with a tiny sampling of the works of Shakespeare:
>
# :-)
>
import string
import random
>
def main(bardText, maxTries=500000 0):
tries = 0
while tries < maxTries:
tries += 1
attempt = []
for letter in bardText.lower( ):
if random.choice(
string.lowercas e[:26]
+ string.punctuat ion
+ ' '
) == letter:
attempt.append( letter)
else:
break
if len(attempt) >= 4:
print '%d: %s' % (
tries,
''.join(attempt )
)
>
if __name__ == "__main__":
main("Alas, poor Yorick!")

5000000 << infinity

Keep tryin'!

Also, the OP's technique was not doing random string permutations, but
generating an exhaustive list of all possible sequences from aaa... to
zzz... . So I think the works of Shakespeare are *bound* to be in
there somewhere.

For proof, here's an extract from my sample code from running this
exhaustive program with length=14:

....
ALASPOORYORICG
ALASPOORYORICH
ALASPOORYORICI
ALASPOORYORICJ
ALASPOORYORICK
ALASPOORYORICL
ALASPOORYORICM
ALASPOORYORICN
ALASPOORYORICO
....

-- Paul
:) (too late for April 1, unfortunately)

[Carsten Haese]

Re: Problem with algorithm

On Fri, 2007-04-13 at 10:22 -0500, Michael Bentley wrote:

On Apr 13, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Paul McGuire wrote:
>

If you just expand the length to five million* or so, one of those
strings will contain all the works of Shakespeare.

>
Not likely, even with a tiny sampling of the works of Shakespeare:

Actually, the OP seems to be interested in generating *all* strings of
length N. If you generate the set of *all* strings of 5 million
characters length, at least one of them will contain all works of
Shakespeare. That statement is utterly true and utterly impractical,
which is, of course, the point of Paul's joke.

-Carsten

[Paul McGuire]

Re: Problem with algorithm

On Apr 13, 10:49 am, Carsten Haese <cars...@uniqsy s.comwrote:

On Fri, 2007-04-13 at 10:22 -0500, Michael Bentley wrote:

On Apr 13, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Paul McGuire wrote:

>

If you just expand the length to five million* or so, one of those
strings will contain all the works of Shakespeare.

>

Not likely, even with a tiny sampling of the works of Shakespeare:

>
Actually, the OP seems to be interested in generating *all* strings of
length N. If you generate the set of *all* strings of 5 million
characters length, at least one of them will contain all works of
Shakespeare. That statement is utterly true and utterly impractical,
which is, of course, the point of Paul's joke.
>
-Carsten

But even random typing will *eventually* get there (where "eventually "
= several gazillion times the age of the universe) - see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem.

-- Paul
If I see farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of an
infinite number of monkeys.

[Paul McGuire]

Re: Problem with algorithm

On Apr 13, 8:53 am, Steve Holden <s...@holdenweb .comwrote:

>
I'm pretty sure you could give a separate name to each atom ont he known
universe with a scheme like this. Do you really need 20-byte strings?
>

Steve,

Based on the Wikipedia article's estimate of 10**79 atoms in the
observable universe (is that all?), we would need a string of about 57
characters long to give each one a separate name.

(And I'll bet you've typed on an old Royal or two in your time...)

-- Paul

[Paul McGuire]

Re: Problem with algorithm

On Apr 13, 10:41 am, "Paul McGuire" <p...@austin.rr .comwrote:

On Apr 13, 10:22 am, Michael Bentley <mich...@jedimi ndworks.com>
wrote:
>
>
>
>
>

On Apr 13, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Paul McGuire wrote:

>

If you just expand the length to five million* or so, one of those
strings will contain all the works of Shakespeare.

>

Not likely, even with a tiny sampling of the works of Shakespeare:

>

# :-)

>

import string
import random

>

def main(bardText, maxTries=500000 0):
tries = 0
while tries < maxTries:
tries += 1
attempt = []
for letter in bardText.lower( ):
if random.choice(
string.lowercas e[:26]
+ string.punctuat ion
+ ' '
) == letter:
attempt.append( letter)
else:
break
if len(attempt) >= 4:
print '%d: %s' % (
tries,
''.join(attempt )
)

>

if __name__ == "__main__":
main("Alas, poor Yorick!")

>
5000000 << infinity
>
Keep tryin'!
>
Also, the OP's technique was not doing random string permutations, but
generating an exhaustive list of all possible sequences from aaa... to
zzz... . So I think the works of Shakespeare are *bound* to be in
there somewhere.
>
For proof, here's an extract from my sample code from running this
exhaustive program with length=14:
>
...
ALASPOORYORICG
ALASPOORYORICH
ALASPOORYORICI
ALASPOORYORICJ
ALASPOORYORICK
ALASPOORYORICL
ALASPOORYORICM
ALASPOORYORICN
ALASPOORYORICO
...
>
-- Paul
:) (too late for April 1, unfortunately)- Hide quoted text -
>
- Show quoted text -

And apologies to the OP for beating a dead horse into the ground.

-- Paul

[Steve Holden]

Re: Problem with algorithm

Paul McGuire wrote:

On Apr 13, 8:53 am, Steve Holden <s...@holdenweb .comwrote:

>I'm pretty sure you could give a separate name to each atom ont he known
>universe with a scheme like this. Do you really need 20-byte strings?
>>

>
Steve,
>
Based on the Wikipedia article's estimate of 10**79 atoms in the
observable universe (is that all?), we would need a string of about 57
characters long to give each one a separate name.
>

>>10 ** 79 26 ** 20

True

>>>

Well, we can't be right all the time, I suppose. Perhaps I need to
raise my certainty filters.

(And I'll bet you've typed on an old Royal or two in your time...)
>

Who are you calling a monkey?

look-out-for-my-infinite-number-of-friends-ly y'rs - steve
--
Steve Holden +44 150 684 7255 +1 800 494 3119
Holden Web LLC/Ltd http://www.holdenweb.com
Skype: holdenweb http://del.icio.us/steve.holden
Recent Ramblings http://holdenweb.blogspot.com

[azrael]

Re: Problem with algorithm

Are you maybe trying to create a rainbow table, or a very big
dictionary

[Robert Kern]

Re: Problem with algorithm

Paul McGuire wrote:

If I see farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of an
infinite number of monkeys.

If I ever get around to writing a book on numerical methods/computational
science/whatever, this will be the chapter quote for my chapter on Monte Carlo
algorithms.

--
Robert Kern

"I have come to believe that the whole world is an enigma, a harmless enigma
that is made terrible by our own mad attempt to interpret it as though it had
an underlying truth."
-- Umberto Eco