Methuselah (CA)

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In cellular automata, a methuselah is a small "seed" pattern of initial live cells that take a large number of generations in order to stabilize. Patterns that grow forever are not considered methuselahs.

[edit] In Conway's Game of Life

In Conway's Game of Life, the smallest methuselah is the R-pentomino, which takes 1103 generations before stabilizing, while one of the largest is the acorn, developed by Charles Corderman, which takes 5206 generations to stabilize and produce an "oak." Other examples of methuselahs include bunnies and rabbits. The longest-lived methuselah known to date, discovered by Andrzej Okrasinski and David Bell, has an initial population of 13 and a final population of 1623, and takes 29055 generations to stabilize[1].