BY RUSSELL MALONEY, WHICH ORIGINALLY APPEARED in THE NEW YORKER in 1940, looks at a popular and proverbial illustration of the mathematics of probability, widely known to the general public because of its transmission through popular culture-- rather than being referenced in the classroom. This is the so-called Infinite Chimpanzee Theorem, often called, by the taxonomically ignorant, the Infinite Monkey Theorem. According to this, given enough time, six chimpanzees, pounding randomly away at typewriters, would, eventually, write all the books in the British Museum. The image easily stays in the mind.

However, it should be noted as a matter of course that this iconic situation over-simplifies or confuses important aspects of the different scales of the concepts involved: Infinity, Probability and Time-- all of these being in measures beyond average human experience, practical comprehension or comparison.

Later in the show, the dazzling Sarah Zee, by special arrangement with Reloadio, enthralls with a relation of her struggles to retain an outer garment. The segment is touched by the usual delay problem, but surmounted by the inherently compelling nature of the topic. Puzzling Evidence is the show's special guest.