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The Game of Life & Cellular Automata

The document discusses cellular automata and Conway's Game of Life. It explains that the Game of Life is a zero-player game based on cellular automata where cells on a grid have two states (on/off, alive/dead) and change states based on the states of neighboring cells. Conway's original rules determined that a cell stays alive if it has 2-3 live neighbors and becomes alive if it has 3 live neighbors. The document also discusses how the number of possible cellular automata grows exponentially based on the number of cell states and neighboring cells considered. It provides examples of how cellular automata can be used to model many different systems.

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64 views

The Game of Life & Cellular Automata

The document discusses cellular automata and Conway's Game of Life. It explains that the Game of Life is a zero-player game based on cellular automata where cells on a grid have two states (on/off, alive/dead) and change states based on the states of neighboring cells. Conway's original rules determined that a cell stays alive if it has 2-3 live neighbors and becomes alive if it has 3 live neighbors. The document also discusses how the number of possible cellular automata grows exponentially based on the number of cell states and neighboring cells considered. It provides examples of how cellular automata can be used to model many different systems.

Uploaded by

reid_241763282
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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TheGameofLife&CellularAutomata

ReidSavage

Thegameoflife,coinedbymathematicianJohnConwayinthe1960s,isazeroplayergame
basedoncellularautomata(henceabbr.CAM).Initsmostelementaryform,itisplayedby
usingagridsystemofsomesortandamethodofflippingthestatesofthecellsfromtwo
states(on/off,dead/alive,0/1,etc)thiswasoriginallyaccomplishedwithaGoboard.Inthis
game,acertainamountofcellsstatesareflippedtotriggerthebeginningofthegame.With
eachiterationoftime,acalculationisperformedoneachcell.JohnConwaysvariation
includedtheserules:
Ifthecellisalive,thenitstaysaliveifithaseither2or3liveneighbors.
Ifthecellisdead,thenitspringstolifeonlyinthecasethatithas3liveneighbors.1
Theserulesarearbitraryinthattheyholdnospecialsignificanceotherthanallowingfora
CAMgamethatisbothinterestingandhardtopredict.

Ifweconsiderthestateof3adjacentcells,howmanypossibleautomata(evolutions)are
there?Ifeachcellhastwostates,andtherearethreecells,andordermatters,thiswouldbe
23combinations.However,sincethestateofthemiddlecellcanbepickedindependently,
thereareactually28combinations.Thiscanbegeneralizedask^(k^(s)),wherekisthe
numberofstatesacellcanoccupy,andsisthenumberofneighboringcells.Asyoucantell,
thenumberofpossibleautomatagrowsreallyfast.Thefunctionk^(k^(s))isquitescary
onceyouconsiderthenumberofpossibilitiesonatheoreticallyinfinitegridandmorethantwo
states.2

1
2

http://www.math.cornell.edu/~lipa/mec/lesson6.html
And/orthethird/fourthdimension,man.

Conwaysgameoflifeisfarfromtheonlysetofrulesthathavebeencreatedbasedonthe
cellularautomaton.Theinventorofthekeyprinciplesofthecomputer,JohnvonNeumann,
devisedhisownsetofrulestoexploremachineselfreplication.vonNeumannscellular
automatonisbasedonaCartesian3 gridwitheachcellhaving29possiblestatescategorized
intothegroundstate,transition/sensitizedstates,confluentstates,ordinarytransmission
states,andspecialtransmissionstates.Asyoucansee,consideringtheaboveequation,the
numberofpossibleautomatacanbepracticallyinfinite,andcanbeusedtomodelmany
differentsystems.vonNeumannsoriginaluseforCAAwascreatedforthemodelingoffluid
dynamicswithtodaysextremelypowerfulcomputers,therearefarmorecomplexsystems
thatcouldbemodeledtohigherresolution.

CAMhaveapplicationsintrafficmodeling,urbangrowthmodeling,patternrecognition,
cryptography,machinelearning,particlemodels,fluiddynamics,thermo/hydrodynamics,
seismicelastodynamics,gasbehavior,andjustaboutanysystemofwhicheachcellsstate
canbedeterminedbythepreviousstateofitsneighbors4 .

Asyoucansee,thecomplexityofCAMcanvarywildly,andishighlyapplicabletomany
differentproblems.Itislikelythattheywillbepopularmodelingtoolsforquitesometime.5

Unitsquarebased.
Whichturnsouttobealot.
5
Atleastuntilwefigureoutthatonesystemthatexplainsalloftheothersystems.
4

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