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Oscillizer glossary
It is assumed that you are already familiar with the
terminology commonly used in Conway's Game of Life. The purpose
of this glossary is to define exactly what Oscillizer is
measuring. The terms are not guaranteed to mean exactly
the same thing in other contexts, and not all are in
common use.
- active cells
- The set of those cells that are ON in at least one phase;
the union of the rotor and
stator.
- bounding box
- The smallest orthogonally-oriented rectangle that contains
all of the active cells. For bounding
box purposes, cells are considered to be squares that tile the
plane, not points.
For example, the bounding box of a blinker is 3x3, not 2x2
(or 3x1).
- cell period
- The minimum number of generations it
takes for the ON/OFF pattern of an individual cell (belonging to
an oscillator) to repeat.
This must necessarily be a factor of the period of the oscillator.
- heat
- The average number of cells that change state per
generation. Oscillizer also calculates the "minimum heat" (and
"maximum heat"), which is the minimum (maximum) number of cells
that change state in one generation. See also
temperature.
- mixed period
- An oscillator has a "mixed" period if its highest
cell period is less than its
full period.
For example, a pattern
consisting of a noninteracting period 4 oscillator
and period 6 oscillator would technically have a
period of 12, but no single cell would
have a period higher than 6.
- oscillator
- A finite nonempty pattern that recurs at the same position and
orientation after some fixed number of generations. A still
life is considered to be an oscillator whose period is 1.
- period
- The minimum number of generations it takes for an
oscillator to recur at the same position and orientation.
See also cell period and
mixed period.
- rotor
- The set of those cells that are ON in at least one phase and
also OFF in at least one other phase.
- rotor temperature
- The average percentage of rotor cells
that change state per generation. This is undefined for still lifes,
which have no rotor.
- rule
- The cellular automata rules in which this oscillator works.
The minimum rule is listed first, then the maximum rule
(if the oscillator works in more than one rule). Optional
Birth and Survival counts are underlined in the web-based
version of Oscillizer. [Note: Only rules in which the oscillator
works in exactly the same way as the given rule
are listed. The pattern may well be a different oscillator
in some other rule, but that rule will not be shown.]
- stator
- The set of those cells that are ON in all phases.
- temperature
- The average percentage of active cells
that change state per generation. See also
rotor temperature,
heat.
- size
- "Size" usually means the number of cells.
- volatility
- The percentage of active cells
which belong to the rotor.
- strict volatility
- The percentage of active cells
which oscillate at the full period of
the oscillator (rather than some factor of that period).
Note that for prime periods, strict volatility must equal
volatility.