[Paper on doing computations with rule 54] - A New Kind of Science: The NKS Forum

A New Kind of Science: The NKS Forum

Pages:1



Paper on doing computations with rule 54

(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)



Posted by: Paul-Jean L.

This paper may be of interest:

Chaos, Solitons and Fractals 28 (2006) 100–111

I have not gone through the paper in great detail, but it looked interesting from the perspective of the so-called "Class 3 problem" (doing computations with class 3 rules).

Abstract:

Rule 54, a two state, three neighbor cellular automaton in Wolfram's systems of nomenclature, is less complex that Rule 110, but nevertheless possess a rich and complex dynamics. We provide a systematic and exhaustive analysis of glider behavior and interactions, including a catalog of collisions. Many of them shows promise are computational elements.



Posted by: Jason Cawley

I think most consider rule 54 to be class 4. But proving it is universal would still be a nice result. I've read the paper, and they find a number of elements that would be useful for such a proof. They claim at the end only that they've found enough to implement what they call a "counter machine" in rule 54, meaning a system that can be written to, erased, read and shifted, and checked for emptiness. That is not yet universality, but it is a start. The English could use some polishing in a few places and some of their terms for structures within rule 54 are a bit quirky, but they certainly did some good work on the variety of possible structures and collisions.





Forum Sponsored by Wolfram Research

© 2004-2008 Wolfram Research, Inc. | Powered by vBulletin 2.3.0 © 2000-2002 Jelsoft Enterprises, Ltd. | Disclaimer
vB Easy Archive Final - Created by Xenon and modified/released by SkuZZy from the Job Openings