Also, if I recall correctly from my humanities days, similar approaches have "proven" that different people wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Found (John Milton wrote both and there is no serious argument to the contrary).
Funny - since I almost cited the article that (I think) you have in mind. The article I remember wasn't an actual proof though: it was a reductio ad absurdum, used in a review of a book about Homer that used statistical methods. The reductio was, in a nutshell, to show that by the same argument as the one in the book on Homer, the reviewer could prove that Milton didn't write Paradise Lost.
In any case, here's a JSTOR reference to the article I'm thinking of: http://www.jstor.org/stable/641985. (I can provide a pdf copy if anyone wants it. Check my profile for email.) I wonder if this is the one you're remembering.
In any case, here's a JSTOR reference to the article I'm thinking of: http://www.jstor.org/stable/641985. (I can provide a pdf copy if anyone wants it. Check my profile for email.) I wonder if this is the one you're remembering.