Conway’s Game of Life

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Life Lexicon

Volatility

of its rotor divided by the sum of the sizes of its rotor and its stator. In other words, it is the proportion of cells involved in the oscillator which actually oscillate. For many periods there are known oscillators with volatility 1, see for example Achim's p16, figure-8, Kok's galaxy, mazing, pentadecathlon, phoenix, relay, smiley and tumbler. Such an oscillator of period 3 was found in August 2012 by Jason Summers.

Game of Life pattern ’volatility’

The smallest period for which the existence of such statorless oscillators is undecided is 7. There are oscillators with volatility arbitrarily close to 1 for all but finitely many periods, because of the possibility of feeding the gliders from a true period n gun into an eater.

The term "volatility" is due to Robert Wainwright. See also strict volatility.

Game of Life Explanation

The Game of Life is not your typical computer game. It is a cellular automaton, and was invented by Cambridge mathematician John Conway.

This game became widely known when it was mentioned in an article published by Scientific American in 1970. It consists of a grid of cells which, based on a few mathematical rules, can live, die or multiply. Depending on the initial conditions, the cells form various patterns throughout the course of the game.

Rules

For a space that is populated:
Examples

Each cell with one or no neighbors dies, as if by solitude.

Each cell with four or more neighbors dies, as if by overpopulation.

Each cell with two or three neighbors survives.

For a space that is empty or unpopulated:

Each cell with three neighbors becomes populated.

More information

Video’s about the Game of Life

Stephen Hawkings The Meaning of Life (John Conway's Game of Life segment)
The rules are explained in Stephen Hawkings’ documentary The Meaning of Life
Inventing Game of Life (John Conway) - Numberphile
John Conway himself talks about the Game of Life

Interesting articles about John Conway

Implemented by Edwin Martin <>