Short table
| Short table | |||||||
| View static image | |||||||
| Pattern type | Spark | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cells | 5 | ||||||
| Bounding box | 3 × 2 | ||||||
| Static symmetry | Unspecified | ||||||
| Discovered by | Unknown | ||||||
| Year of discovery | 1969 | ||||||
| |||||||
Short table[1][2][3] is a commonly-seen polyomino spark. It is one of two pentomino grandparents of the V spark (and, by extension, great-grandparents of the domino), with the other being the crotchet.
This spark is often seen through the decay of larger, typically symmetric sparks. The line-of-six spark, for example, decays into two short tables near the end of its lifespan.
Short table is named in analogy to the table, a 6-cell pattern which also dies is unsupported. Unlike the table, however, the short table is unusable as an induction coil in Life, as its "central" cell will immediately die due to overpopulation. The first recorded use of the term "short table" appears to be by Gustavo Ramos Rehermann in late 2013;[note 1] no other names appear to have been used to refer to this spark other than the systematic polyomino name of "U-pentomino".
Uses
As mentioned previously, the short table cannot be used as a stabilising induction coil (or indeed any still life component in Life due to its inherent internal instability. However, a series of correctly-spaced short tables can be strung together to create a period-8 wick as follows:
|
Notes
- ↑ The original LifeWiki pages and files dating from 2013 containing this information have since been deleted and their data has become corrupt due to MediaWiki switching.