|
The new way of life
We have also extended the original Conway’s rule to simulate a more realistic model. The new rules can be assessed by selecting the New Life check box.
A cell’s life cycle still obeys the standard Conway’s rules and the extended version if there are two colonies. However, in new rules each cell once formed is given a survival time and unless a cell is being ‘eaten’ by
other cells, it will survive until its lifetime expires due to old age.
For a lonely or over crowded cell 3 units of lifetime will be subtracted. Otherwise, only a unit of lifetime will be subtracted in a Generation. Note that the lifetime is not a fixed number. Rather,
it is a Gaussian random number generated by the computer. Unlike the ‘fair dice’ as mentioned earlier, in this case, the probability a random number is generated depends on two factors: the average and deviation (spread)
of a random number distribution. Diagram below shows two different distributions, labelled ‘a’ and ‘b’.
|
