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// Program to calculate the probability of 2 names appearing in the same
// movie.
//
// This program was written to bolster my probabilistic argument that the
// Sesame Street characters Bert & Ernie were *not* named after the cab driver
// and policeman in the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," and was rather just
// a probabilistic coincidence, and that any two reasonably-common names
// could be found with a reasonable probability in a reasonable number of
// movies.
//
// By the way, they weren't named after the movie.
nameA = input["Enter name(s) A: "]
freqA = frequency[nameA]
println["Frequency of " + nameA + " (in either sex) is: " + (freqA -> "percent")]
nameB = input["\nEnter name(s) B: "]
freqB = frequency[nameB]
println["Frequency of " + nameB + " (in either sex) is: " + (freqB -> "percent")]
chars = eval[input["\nEnter number of characters in an average movie: "]]
probA = probAlone[freqA, chars]
probB = probAlone[freqB, chars]
println["Probability of " + nameA + " and " + nameB + " appearing together in an average movie: "]
println[probTogether[probA, probB] -> "percent"]
movies = eval[input["\nEnter number of movies to compare: "]]
println["Probability of " + nameA + " and " + nameB + " appearing in at least one of " + movies + " movies together:"]
println[probTogether[probA, probB, movies] -> "percent\n"]
println["These two names will tend to appear together at least once in every " + predictTogether[probA, probB] + " movies."]
// Functions used by above program
// Probability of a single name with frequency freq being in a movie with
// chars characters...
probAlone[freq, chars] := 1 - (1-freq)^chars
// Probability those two characters appear together in n movies
probTogether[probA, probB, movies=1] := 1 - (1 - probA * probB)^movies
// Predict the number of movies to get a 50% probability
predictTogether[probA, probB] := ceil[- ln[2] / ln[1 - probA * probB]]
// Contact www.placesnamed.com and fetch probabilities.
frequency[names] :=
{
nameList = split[%r/[\s,\/]+/, names]
freq = 0
for [name] nameList
{
if (name == "")
next // Ignore leading/trailing space
[let1, let2] = name =~ %r/(.)(.)/ // Get first 2 letters
url = "http://www.placesnamed.com/"+ let1 + "/" + let2 + "/" + name + ".asp"
pattern = regex[name + ".* popular ((?:fe)?male).*frequency is (.*?)%","i"]
for [line] lines[url]
if [sex, p] = line =~ pattern
{
println[name + " (" + sex + "): " + p + "%"]
freq = freq + eval[p] percent
}
}
return freq/2 // Return frequency for *either* sex
}
Download or view bert.frink in plain text format
This is a program written in the programming language Frink.
For more information, view the Frink
Documentation or see More Sample Frink Programs.
Alan Eliasen was born 19970 days, 8 hours, 33 minutes ago.