Large prime oscillator
Revision as of 13:48, 4 February 2018 by Apple Bottom (talk | contribs) (Mention where to find Calcyman's period 2^44497-1 oscillator.)
A large prime oscillator is any oscillator with a relatively small bounding box whose period is a very large prime. (If the bounding-box restriction is removed, then eight gliders travelling in a four-Snark loop would provide a trivial example for any chosen prime.) The first such oscillator was built by Gabriel Nivasch in 2003. The current record holder is an oscillator constructed by Adam P. Goucher with a period that is a Mersenne prime with 13,395 digits (244497-1).[note 1]
The next higher Mersenne-prime oscillator, period 286243-1, could be constructed with semi-Snarks and would actually be smaller than the current record holder, but as of the end of 2017 the construction of this pattern has not yet been completed.
Notes
- ↑ This oscillator can be found in Golly's Very Large Patterns collections, accessible via Help › Online Archives › Very Large Patterns › Mersenne-44497.
External links
- Adam P. Goucher. 13395-digit prime-period oscillator (discussion thread) at the ConwayLife.com forums