Random Walks in Elementary Cellular Automata
Random Walks in Elementary Cellular Automata
This Demonstration illustrates the pseudorandomness capabilities of certain class 3 cellular automata in Wolfram's behavioral classification. For example, the center column of rule 30 appears effectively random and the accumulation of its values apparently produces a random walk. The random walk can be used as a test to tell apart complex from simple behavior. However, some complex class 3 cellular automata are capable of intrinsic randomness starting from the simplest initial configuration (one black cell), such as rule 30 and symmetric rules; other class 3 cellular automata such as rule 22 require some random seed to produce randomness.