Hook with tail

Hook with tail
x = 5, y = 4, rule = B3/S23 obo$2obo$3bo$3b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C Still life
View static image
Pattern type	Strict still life
Number of cells	8
Bounding box	5×4
Frequency class	20.5
Discovered by	Unknown
Year of discovery	1971
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B/S23 – B35678/S012345678 Important rules Conway Life, HighLife # of rules 212 = 4096 Isotropic rules B/S2-in3nr – B2ikn34-ajnr5678/S012345678
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders 4 Catagolue-generated RLE hookwithtail_synth.rle Uploaded synthesis RLE hookwithtail_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext hookwithtail.cells RLE hookwithtail.rle
Identifiers apgcode xs8_32qk Pentadecathlon ID 8.5

Hook with tail (or snake eater) is an 8-cell still life. Despite it being reported on Lifeline early on, it was for a long time the smallest still life without a well-established name. It can act as a rock in two ways, one using the tail like snake, the other using the hook as shown below in Gallery.

This still life is comprised of the normally unstable hook with a normally unstable tail attached.

Commonness

Hook with tail is the sixty-ninth most common still life in Achim Flammenkamp's census, being less common than loaf siamese loaf but more common than long integral It is also the eightieth most common object on Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue, making it the rarest of the 8-bit still lifes.

Glider synthesis

On April 29, 2007 Dean Hickerson found a 4-glider synthesis of this still life.

Hook with tail family

Long hook with tail	Cis-very long hook with tail	Trans-very long hook with tail

Cis-long^3 hook with tail	Trans-long^3 hook with tail	Cis-long^4 hook with tail	Trans-long^4 hook with tail

Gallery

x = 21, y = 21, rule = B3/S23 12b2o$12bo$9b2obo$9bobo3$10bo$o8bob2o$3o4bo$3bo3bo5bo3b2o$2bo3bo7bo3bo $2b2o3bo5bo3bo$13bo4b3o$8b2obo8bo$10bo3$9bobo$8bob2o$8bo$7b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ WIDTH 500 HEIGHT 500 ZOOM 16 GPS 7 ]]

An example of the hook with tail being used as a rock in a period-14 oscillator found by Matthias Merzenich in 2014 (click above to open LifeViewer) RLE: here Plaintext: here

See also

• Cis-boat with tail
• Claw with tail

External links

• Hook with tail at the Life Lexicon

• Hook with tail at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue

• The 9 eight-bit still-lifes at Mark D. Niemiec's Life Page