For questions on cellular automata, a discrete model consisting of a regular grid of cells.
Questions tagged [cellular-automata]
142 questions
115
votes
7 answers
Is black hole pattern possible in Conway's Game of Life that eats/clears everything?
Is black hole pattern possible in Conway's Game of Life that eats/clears the infinite universe plane ?
Formally, is there a pattern that satifies following requirements?
The pattern has finite size.
The universe plane has infinite size.
Each cell…
VainMan
- 1,735
6
votes
1 answer
Real life application of Conway's Game of life
Does Conway's Game of Life has any real life application?
I mean applications that are used today.
If so, please add references, because I couldn't find anything, except for some hypothetical applications.
Juan Carlos
- 169
- 7
5
votes
0 answers
Reflector in Conway's Game of Life on Triangular Tessellations
Back in 1994, Carter Bays reports in "Cellular Automata in the Triangular Tessellation" that there are at least 6 Games of Life (GoL) living on triangular tessellations. A GoL has at least one glider (translating oscillator) and doesn't grow…
draks ...
- 18,449
4
votes
0 answers
barriers/membranes in Conway's Game of Life
Has anyone working on Conway's Game of Life found a way to create barriers which divide zones, ideally between a potentially chaotic "outside" and a structured inside, which could then become, e.g., a kind of truly living cell (or other functional…
scottef
- 175
3
votes
2 answers
When is a cellular automaton "bidirectional"?
From this paper.
"A (bi-directional, deterministic) cellular automaton is a triplet
$A = (S;N;\delta)$, where $S$ is an non-empty state set, $N$ is the neighborhood system, and $\delta$ is the local transition function (rule).
This function defines…
andandandand
- 435
3
votes
1 answer
What reversible cellular automaton rule emulates all 256 Wolfram rules?
On page 648 of A New Kind of Science, there's a definition of a "universal" cellular automaton, which can emulate Wolfram's 256 elementary cellular automata. Furthermore, it emulates them in a "cell-by-cell" manner: one cell of the elementary…
user54038
- 367
- 1
- 9
2
votes
2 answers
Rigid spaceships in Conway's Game of Life
(1) Is it true that there are no rigid spaceships in Conway's Game of Life, i.e. spaceships with period 1 i.e. spaceships of constant shape (only allowed to rotate) of non-zero translational velocity?
If so: why do such spaceships have to change…
Hans-Peter Stricker
- 18,159
2
votes
2 answers
Garden of Eden States in Cellular Automata
I am just beginning to study cellular automata and I am having trouble understanding the so called Garden of Eden states. How can a deterministic algorithm wind up in a state that has no pre-image, this seems impossible to me?
Ken Taylo
- 21
2
votes
0 answers
How does adding only one xor operation sufficient to turn a non-reversible 1-dimensional cellular automaton into a reversible one?
Within Wolfram's 1D 2-state cellular automata rules, there are three bits (which we'll call bit_n-1, bit_n, bit_n+1) at t-1 that determine the state of bit_n at t-0. This means there are 2^3 = 8 ways to determine the state of the next generation's…
2
votes
1 answer
Interesting discovery made in the Conway's Game of Life
When I was experimenting with the Game of Life by John Conway, I realised that any n by n diagonal square does not die off at the end; it always reaches a state where it oscillates or does not continue to evolve any further. A diagonal square looks…
FAN WENDI HCI
- 247
2
votes
2 answers
Game of Life - Death by overpopulation example where only one cell changes in the next generation?
I'm new to Cellular Automata. I'm looking for examples of Game of Life board states in which only one cell changes in the next generation (to show the effect of the rule that was applied). I'm looking for separate examples for all the 4 rules (as…
eMad
- 131
2
votes
1 answer
Does Conway's Game of Life have attracting cycles (or equilibria)?
Is there a sequence $\:\langle S_0,S_1,S_2,...,S_{n-1},S_n\rangle\:$ of generations for Conway's Game of Life such that
[$\hspace{.01 in}S_0 = S_n$ $\:$ and $\:$ $S_0$ has at least one live cell $\:$ and $\:$ [for all members $i$ of…
user57159
2
votes
2 answers
Implications of the Period 43 stable reflector
Mike Playle has found the long-sought stable reflector in Life. It can recover from a reflection in 43 steps, which makes all oscillators of period 43 and above possible.
What major things have been waiting on the stable reflector?
Ed Pegg
- 20,955
2
votes
1 answer
Elementary cellular automaton showing eventually periodic behavior after large number of iterations.
In this video:
Cellular Automata and Rule 30
Stephen Wolfram talks about such an elementary cellular automaton at 17:01. Does anybody have an idea which one exactly he could be talking about?
Mario
- 932
2
votes
1 answer
Are there any symmetries in rules of Life-Like Cellular Automata?
Life-like cellular automata have $2^{18}$ different possible rulesets, and I would like to test hypotheses/search through them all, however that's a lot of rulesets to test a simulation on, so I'm looking for symmetries.
The one symmetry that I know…
brubsby
- 270