Wolfram Computation Meets Knowledge

Wolfram Summer School

Alumni

Maurício Verardo da Costa

Summer School

Class of 2011

Bio

Maurício Verardo da Costa is currently a student of computer science at Mackenzie Presbyterian University (Brazil). After taking classes with Pedro Paulo Balbi de Oliveira, he got interested in the world of formal languages and automata, and learned about NKS and cellular automata.

Project: Creating Metrics to Predict Behavior Using Block Frequencies

The project consists of trying to find metrics that measure the complexity of ECAs by checking the occurrence of specific cell blocks during the evolution.

The metrics are meant to answer these kinds of questions:

  • Given a CA rule, how much is the frequency of certain blocks dependent on the initial condition?
  • What is the probability of a certain block appearing during the evolution of a cellular automaton rule?

By using that kind of metric, it may be possible to predict if a cellular automaton will probably converge to a particullar state or not.

Favorite Four-Color Totalistic Cellular Automaton

Rule 399881