Switch engine
| Switch engine | |||||||
| View static image | |||||||
| Pattern type | Methuselah | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of cells | 8 | ||||||
| Bounding box | 6 × 4 | ||||||
| Lifespan | 3911 generations | ||||||
| L/I | 488.9 | ||||||
| Static symmetry | Unspecified | ||||||
| Discovered by | Charles Corderman | ||||||
| Year of discovery | 1971 | ||||||
| |||||||
A switch engine (or Corder engine[1]) is a methuselah that was found by Charles Corderman in 1971. It is unstable by itself, but it can be used to make c/12 diagonal puffers and spaceships.
There are two basic types of stabilized switch engine, both of which were also found by Charles Corderman: the period 288 block-laying switch engine (the more common of the two) and period 384 glider-producing switch engine. These two puffers are the most natural infinite growth patterns in Life, being the only ones ever seen to occur from random starting patterns.
Because the switch engine lends itself so naturally to infinitely-growing patterns, it appears in many of the smallest known superlinear growth patterns, including the mosquitoes, catacryst, metacatacryst, Gotts dots, and 26-cell quadratic growth.
In addition to the puffers based on a single switch engine, puffers such as Noah's ark can be created by combining two switch engines. Such puffers are generally quite dirty. By combining even more switch engines, it is possible to create Corderships, which move at c/12 diagonally and are thus the slowest known spaceships in Life. Such spaceships can be constructed by combining as few as three switch engines.
Stable pattern
The stable pattern that results from the switch engine has 842 cells. It consists of 60 blocks, 33 beehives (including one honey farm), 50 blinkers (including eight traffic lights), 12 gliders, 11 boats, 11 loaves, four ships, two long boats, two ponds, and two tubs.
See also
References
- ↑ "Corder engine". The Life Lexicon. Stephen Silver. Retrieved on June 10, 2009.