The sequence {1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 2, …} defined by the property list  Map[Length, Split[list]] was suggested as a mathematical puzzle by William Kolakoski in 1965 and is equivalent to Join[{1, 2}, Map[First, CTEvolveList[{{1}, {2}}, {2}, t]]] It is known that this sequence does not repeat, contains no more than two identical consecutive blocks, and has at least very close to equal numbers of 1's and 2's. Replacing 2 by 3 yields a sequence which has a fairly simple nested form.

Implementation [of Turing machines] The state of a Turing machine at a particular step can be represented by the triple {s, list, n} , where s gives the state of the head, list gives the values of the cells, and n specifies the position of the head (the cell under the head thus has value list 〚 n 〛 ). … With a rule given in this form, a single step in the evolution of the Turing machine can be implemented with the function TMStep[rule_List, {s_, a_List, n_}] /; (1 ≤ n ≤ Length[a]) := Apply[{#1, ReplacePart[a, #2, n], n + #3}&, Replace[{s, a 〚 n 〛 }, rule]] The evolution for many steps can then be obtained using TMEvolveList[rule_, init_List, t_Integer] := NestList[TMStep[rule, #]&, init, t] An alternative approach is to represent the complete state of the Turing machine by MapAt[{s, #}&, list, n] , and then to use TMStep[rule_, c_] := Replace[c, {a___, x_, h_List, y_, b___}  Apply[{{a, x, #2, {#1, y}, b}, {a, {#1, x}, #2, y, b}} 〚 #3 〛 &, h /. rule]] The result of t steps of evolution from a blank tape can also be obtained from (see also page 1143 ) s = 1; a[_] = 0; n = 0; Do[{s, a[n], d} = {s, a[n]} /. rule; n += d, {t}]

As discussed on page 955 , any rule based on addition modulo k must yield a nested pattern, and it therefore follows that any rule that is additive must give a nested pattern, as in the examples below. … Note that each step in the evolution of any additive cellular automaton can be computed as Mod[ListCorrelate[w, list, Ceiling[Length[w]/2]], k] (See page 1087 for a discussion of partial additivity.)

Implementation [of mobile automata] The state of a mobile automaton at a particular step can conveniently be represented by a pair {list, n} , where list gives the values of the cells, and n specifies the position of the active cell (the value of the active cell is thus list 〚 n 〛 ). … With a rule given in this form, each step in the evolution of the mobile automaton corresponds to the function MAStep[rule_, {list_List, n_Integer}] /; (1 < n < Length[list]) := Apply[{ReplacePart[list, #1, n], n + #2}&, Replace[Take[list, {n - 1, n + 1}], rule]] The complete evolution for many steps can then be obtained with MAEvolveList[rule_, init_List, t_Integer] := NestList[MAStep[rule, #]&, init, t] (The program will run more efficiently if Dispatch is applied to the rule before giving it as input.) For the mobile automaton on page 73 , the rule can be given as {{1, 1, 1}  {{0, 0, 0}, -1}, {1, 1, 0}  {{1, 0, 1}, -1}, {1, 0, 1}  {{1, 1, 1}, 1}, {1, 0, 0}  {{1, 0, 0}, 1}, {0, 1, 1}  {{0, 0, 0}, 1}, {0, 1, 0}  {{0, 1, 1}, -1}, {0, 0, 1}  {{1, 0, 1}, 1}, {0, 0, 0}  {{1, 1, 1}, 1}} and MAStep must be rewritten as MAStep[rule_, {list_List, n_Integer}] /; (1 < n < Length[list]) := Apply[{Join[Take[list, {1, n - 2}], #1, Take[list, {n + 2, -1}]], n + #2}&, Replace[Take[list, {n - 1, n + 1}], rule]]

The output f[x] in such cases is always 2 u - 1 where u = Nest[(13 + (6# + 8)(5/2)^ IntegerExponent[6# + 8, 2])/6 &, 1, s + 1] One then finds that 6u + 8 has the form Nest[If[EvenQ[#], 5#/2, # + 21]&, 14, m] for some m , suggesting a connection with the number theory systems of page 122 . … But if IntegerDigits[x, 2] involves no consecutive 0's then for example f[x] can be obtained from 2^(b[Join[{1, 1}, #], Length[#]] &)[IntegerDigits[x, 2]] - 1 a[{l_, _}, r_] := ({l + (5r - 3#)/2, #} &)[Mod[r, 2]] a[{l_, 0}, 0] := {l + 1, 0} a[{l_, 1}, 0] := ({(13 + #(5/2)^IntegerExponent[#, 2])/6, 0} &[6l + 2] b[list_, i_] := First[Fold[a, {Apply[Plus, Drop[list, -i]], 0}, Apply[Plus, Split[Take[list, -i], #1  #2 ≠ 0 &], 1]]] (The corresponding expression for t[x] is more complicated.) … It is certainly possible that they could increase like NestList[# 2 &, 2, n] , or 2 2 n , although for x = (20 4 s - 2)/3 a better fit for n ≤ 200 is just 2 2.6 n , with outputs increasing like 2 2 1.3 n .

Applying FoldList[Plus, 0, 2list - 1] to the whole sequence yields the pattern shown below. … This is similar to picture (c) on page 131 , and is a digit-by-digit version of FoldList[Plus, 0, Table[Apply[Plus, 2 Rest[IntegerDigits[i, 2]] - 1], {i, n}]] Note that although the picture above has a nested structure, the original concatenation sequences are not nested, and so cannot be generated by substitution systems. The element at position n in the first sequence discussed above can however be obtained in about Log[n] steps using ((IntegerDigits[#3 + Quotient[#1, #2], 2] 〚 Mod[#1, #2] + 1 〛 &)[n - (# - 2)2 # - 1 - 2, #, 2 # - 1 ]&)[NestWhile[# + 1&, 0, (# - 1)2 # + 1 < n &]] where the result of the NestWhile can be expressed as Ceiling[1 + ProductLog[1/2(n - 1)Log[2]]/Log[2]] Following work by Maxim Rytin in the late 1990s about k n+1 digits of a concatenation sequence can be found fairly efficiently from k/(k - 1) 2 - (k - 1) Sum[k (k s - 1) ((1 + s - s k)/(k - 1)) (1/((k - 1) (k s - 1) 2 ) - k/((k - 1) (k s + 1 - 1) 2 ) + 1/(k s + 1 - 1)), {s, n}] Concatenation sequences can also be generated by joining together digits from other representations of numbers; the picture below shows results for the Gray code representation from page 901 .

Substitution systems in which all replacements are done that are found to fit in a left-to-right scan can be implemented as follows GSSEvolveList[rule_, s_, n_] := NestList[GSSStep[rule, #] &, s, n] GSSStep[rule_, s_] := g[rule, s, f[StringPosition[s, Map[First, rule]]]] f[{ }] = { }; f[s_] := Fold[If[Last[Last[#1]] ≥ First[#2], #1, Append[#1, #2]]&, {First[s]}, Rest[s]] g[rule_, s_, { }] := s; g[rule_, s_, pos_] := StringReplacePart[ s, Map[StringTake[s, #] &, pos] /. rule, pos] with rules given as {"ABA"  "BAAB", "BBBB"  "AA"} .

A simpler example is the rule Mod[RotateLeft[list] + RotateRight[list], 1] With a single nonzero initial cell with value 1/k the pattern produced is just Pascal's triangle modulo k . If k is a rational number only a limited set of values appear, and the pattern has a nested form analogous to those shown on page 870 .

Fractal dimensions [of additive cellular automata] The total number of nonzero cells in the first t rows of the pattern generated by the evolution of an additive cellular automaton with k colors and weights w (see page 952 ) from a single initial 1 can be found using g[w_, k_, t_] := Apply[Plus, Sign[NestList[Mod[ ListCorrelate[w, #, {-1, 1}, 0], k] &, {1}, t - 1]], {0, 1}] The fractal dimension of this pattern is then given by the large m limit of Log[k,g[w, k,k m + 1 ]/g[w, k, k m ]] When k is prime it turns out that this can be computed as d[w_, k_:2] := Log[k,Max[Abs[Eigenvalues[With[ {s = Length[w] - 1}, Map[Function[u, Map[Count[u, #] &, #1]], Map[Flatten[Map[Partition[Take[#, k + s - 1], s, 1] &, NestList[Mod[ListConvolve[w, #], k] &, #, k - 1]], 1] &, Map[Flatten[Map[{Table[0, {k - 1}], #} &, Append[#, 0]]] &, #]]] &[Array[IntegerDigits[#, k, s] &, k s - 1]]]]]]] For rule 90 one gets d[{1, 0, 1}] = Log[2, 3] ≃ 1.58 .

.}] = 0 g[{1, s__}] := 1 + g[IntegerDigits[FromDigits[{s}, 2] + 1, 2]] The list of elements in the sequence up to value m is given by Flatten[Table[Table[n, {IntegerExponent[n, 2] + 1}], {n, m}]] The differences between the first 2 (2 k -1) of these elements is Nest[Replace[#, {x___}  {x, 1, x, 0}]&, {}, k] The largest n for which f[n]  m is given by 2m + 1 - DigitCount[m, 2, 1] or IntegerExponent[(2m)!… Hump m in the picture of sequence (c) shown is given by FoldList[Plus, 0, Flatten[Nest[Delete[NestList[Rest, #, Length[#] - 1], 2]&, Append[Table[1, {m}], 0], m]] - 1/2] The first 2 m elements in the sequence can also be generated in terms of reordered base 2 digit sequences by FoldList[Plus, 1, Map[Last[Last[#]]&, Sort[Table[{Length[#], Apply[Plus, #], 1 - #}& [ IntegerDigits[i, 2]], {i, 2 m }]]]] Note that the positive and negative fluctuations in sequence (f) are not completely random: although the probability for individual fluctuations in each direction seems to be the same, the probability for two positive fluctuations in a row is smaller than for two negative fluctuations in a row.