List of long-lived methuselahs

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edwin
Posts: 20
Joined: November 21st, 2014, 4:22 pm

List of long-lived methuselahs

Post by edwin » November 24th, 2014, 3:16 am

This post refers to the List of long-lived methuselahs wiki page. I have also added similar comments into the "Talk" section of the page.

What is the purpose of this page? If it's to list any methuselahs that last a long time (however that is defined), then there are a whole heap that I can contribute that should be included here. If, on the other hand, it is to keep a record of methuselahs that last the longest time for a given cell count, then I propose the following be removed as they are all superseded by others on the list:
  • Ten
    Syringe
    Wake
    Switch Engine
    Multum in parvo
    Rabbits
    Bunnies
    Blom
    Justyna
    Iwona
    Eve
    Ed
    Edna
    35161M
    35201M
    Fred
Furthermore, if it is to keep a record of the longest, then inclusion should only be granted where:
1. The number of generations is the largest for a given initial population
2. The number of generations for a given cell count is greater than the number of generations for all entries with a smaller initial population
3. The staring pattern does not include a spaceship (this includes gliders)
4. And perhaps a limit on the initial bounding box? Perhaps a bounding box no more than NxN where N=initial population? Or perhaps no more than SQRT(3N) x SQRT(3N) where N = initial population? (i.e. No more than one-third saturation).

What do others think?

Sphenocorona
Posts: 549
Joined: April 9th, 2013, 11:03 pm

Re: List of long-lived methuselahs

Post by Sphenocorona » November 24th, 2014, 11:51 pm

Maybe the page should be moved to "List of notable methuselahs". Then those which are notable but not for extremely long duration (i.e. Switch Engine) still make sense to be included.

Some of those you list were once at the top of their population/bounding box range. Rabbits is just generation 1 of bunnies (although it was found first) so maybe it could be removed. The first three non-notable 'methuselahs' you list, as I have already said, are not notable at all and evidently were not cleaned up completely after being deleted.

The list includes those notable for low bounding box to duration and also population to duration - anything under 20x20 is allowed for the former and for the latter, obviously lower counts are better.

As for the rules you propose:
For number 3: Any spaceships included, if they are the only non-static patterns in the proposed methuselah (defining this part to be bullet-proof is hard, although it's rather clear what the implication is), must collide with another object in the generation their first 'recognizable' generation (a part of their cycle, with or without any of its sparks). Puffer usage is already agreed to be considered to belong to a different class of patterns, which are not the subject of as much interest.
For number 4, the limit on 'small bounding-box' methuselahs is 20x20. For 'low-population' methuselahs, they cant get too terribly big anyway (and if you decide to have a glider collide very late with a 30,000 gen methuselah, chances are that a smaller methuselah without the far-away glider lasts longer)
Of course, my suggestion for moving the page would make #1 and #2 irrelevant.

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