Difference between revisions of "Heat"

From LifeWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(Link to Nathaniel's heat script)
Line 7: Line 7:


==External links==
==External links==
{{LinkWeisstein|Heat.html}}
{{LinkLexicon|lex_h.htm#heat}}
{{LinkLexicon|lex_h.htm#heat}}
{{LinkForumThread|p=152|title=Re: Golly scripts|author=Nathaniel Johnston}} (script to calculate heat of spaceships and oscillators)
{{LinkForumThread|p=152|title=Re: Golly scripts|author=Nathaniel Johnston}} (script to calculate heat of spaceships and oscillators)

Revision as of 01:37, 3 December 2020

This blinker has heat 4

The heat of an oscillator or spaceship is the average number of cells that change state in each generation. For example, the heat of a blinker is 4 because 2 cells are born and 2 die every generation – the four cells that change state each generation are highlighted in green to the right. Similarly, the heat of a lightweight spaceship is 11 because 9 cells change in its odd-numbered generations (3 cells die and 6 are born) and 13 cells change in its even-numbered generations (8 cells die and 5 are born), for an average of 11 cells changing per generation.

For a period n oscillator with an r-cell rotor, the heat is at least 2r/n and no more than r(1-(n mod 2)/n). For n=2 and n=3 these bounds are equal.

Temperature is a metric of heat in proportion to the total number of active cells.

External links

  • Nathaniel Johnston. Re: Golly scripts (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums (script to calculate heat of spaceships and oscillators)