Silver's p5

Silver's p5
x = 11, y = 7, rule = B3/S23 2o$o$bo2bo$3b2o$3bo3bob2o$2bo4b2obo$2b2o! #C [[ THUMBSIZE 2 THEME 6 GRID GRIDMAJOR 0 SUPPRESS THUMBLAUNCH ]] #C [[ AUTOSTART ]] #C [[ GPS 2 THUMBSIZE 2 ]]
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Pattern type	Oscillator
Number of cells	17
Bounding box	11×7
Period	5
Mod	5
Heat	8.8
Volatility	0.63
Strict volatility	0.63
Discovered by	Stephen Silver
Year of discovery	2000
Rules Outer-totalistic rules B3/S23 – B378/S0238 Important rules Conway Life # of rules 24 = 16 Isotropic rules B3-r/S2-in3aijnq – B34-arw5-c6-an78/S0234cektwy5-in6-a7e8
Glider synthesis Fewest gliders 15 Catagolue-generated RLE silversp5_synth.rle Uploaded synthesis RLE silversp5_synth.rle
Pattern files Plaintext silversp5.cells RLE silversp5.rle
Identifiers apgcode xp5_wftsw6246z32 Pentadecathlon ID 17P5.2

Silver's p5 is a period-5 oscillator that was found by Stephen Silver on February 17, 2000. In terms of its 17 cells it is the third smallest known period 5 oscillator, after pseudo-barberpole and octagon 2. As it has no spark, it appears upon first glance to be useless. Nonetheless, in March 2000, David Eppstein found a way to use it to reduce the size of Noam Elkies' period 5 reflector. In May 2007 Mark Niemiec found a 14-glider synthesis of a variation of this oscillator that uses an aircraft carrier rather than a snake for stabilization.

A version of this oscillator substituting an eater for a snake first occurred naturally on January 5, 2016, in a soup submitted to Catagolue by Adam P. Goucher.

See also

• Fumarole
• Smallest period five oscillators

External links

• Silver's p5 at the Life Lexicon

• Silver's p5 at Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue

• 17P5.2 at Heinrich Koenig's Game of Life Object Catalogs