Clock
Clock is a period-2 oscillator found by Simon Norton in May 1970.[1] Expansions of the oscillator can be seen as stabilisations for the zebra stripes/chicken wire agar - such extensions may lose symmetry.
Clock | |||||||||||
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Pattern type | Oscillator | ||||||||||
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Oscillator type | Muttering moat | ||||||||||
Family | Clock | ||||||||||
Number of cells | 6 | ||||||||||
Bounding box | 4×4 | ||||||||||
Frequency class | 19.4 | ||||||||||
Period | 2 | ||||||||||
Mod | 1 | ||||||||||
Heat | 8 | ||||||||||
Volatility | 0.80 | ||||||||||
Strict volatility | 0.80 | ||||||||||
Rotor type | Clock | ||||||||||
Discovered by | Simon Norton | ||||||||||
Year of discovery | 1970 | ||||||||||
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It serves as the logo of WinLifeSearch.
Commonness
Clock is the sixth most common oscillator in Achim Flammenkamp's census, being somewhat less frequent than the pentadecathlon, but much rarer than the blinker, toad, beacon or pulsar. It is by far the rarest 6-bit object, being about 45 times rarer than the snake.[2] It is also the sixty-second most common object on Adam P. Goucher's Catagolue.[3]
In other rules
In outer-totalistic rules, clock can follow at least three different p2 cycles depending on the rule, which all have mod 1.
- In rules such as B4/S1 the inner two cells oscillate similarly to a duoplet in Seeds.
- In rules such as B3/S3, the outer cells oscillate (this being the sequence seen in Life).
- In rules such as B34/S, both of these evolutions take place simultaneously, causing it to evolve into an inverted version of itself and therefore making it a phoenix.
This gives three different p2 sequences:
B3/S3 to B35678/S02345678 | B34/S to B345678/S0245678 | B4/S1 to B45678/S01245678 |
Further sequences are possible in non-totalistic rules; for instance, in B3j/S1, clock cycles with one phase of toad.
References
- Dean Hickerson's oscillator stamp collection. Retrieved on March 14, 2020.
- Achim Flammenkamp (September 7, 2004). "Most seen natural occurring ash objects in Game of Life". Retrieved on January 15, 2009.
- Adam P. Goucher. "Statistics". Catagolue. Retrieved on June 24, 2016.
See also
- Bi-clock
- Clock 2
- Cha cha
- Clock insertion