Eli5: What is a spaceship in John Conway game of life?
In: Mathematics
A spaceship is a name for a pattern that self-perpetuates across space. That is, if there is a configuration of live cells at time T at coordinates (x,y), then, in the absence of any other live cells interfering with it, the same configuration will be present at time T+N at coordinates (x+a,y+b) for some N > 0, and a,b >= 0 (with at least one greater than zero). Some spaceships only move in x or y coordinates, some move diagonally.
This is similar to be distinct from simpler patterns such as stable structures where the same pattern is present at the same coordinates without ever moving or changing, or oscillators which will end up at the same spot periodically, shifting between multiplier phases before looping back.
(Interestingly, from a certain perspective photons in the real world act like Conway spaceships in the electromagnetic spectrum)
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