Sawtooth: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Sawtooth2_pop.png|thumb|right|A plot of population versus generation number for [[sawtooth 2]]]] | |||
A '''sawtooth''' is a finite [[pattern]] whose population grows without bound but does not tend to infinity. In other words, it is a pattern with population that reaches new heights infinitely often, but also infinitely often drops below some fixed value. Their name comes from the fact that their plot of population versus generation number looks roughly like an ever-increasing sawtooth graph. | A '''sawtooth''' is a finite [[pattern]] whose population grows without bound but does not tend to infinity. In other words, it is a pattern with population that reaches new heights infinitely often, but also infinitely often drops below some fixed value. Their name comes from the fact that their plot of population versus generation number looks roughly like an ever-increasing sawtooth graph. | ||
Revision as of 15:48, 15 February 2009
A sawtooth is a finite pattern whose population grows without bound but does not tend to infinity. In other words, it is a pattern with population that reaches new heights infinitely often, but also infinitely often drops below some fixed value. Their name comes from the fact that their plot of population versus generation number looks roughly like an ever-increasing sawtooth graph.
The first sawtooth was constructed by Dean Hickerson in April 1991 by using a loaf tractor beam. The least infinitely repeating population of any known sawtooth is 262, attained by sawtooth 2.
Expansion factor
The expansion factor of a sawtooth is the limit of the ratio of successive heights (or equivalently, widths) of the "teeth" in plots of population versus generation number.
See also
External links
- Sawtooth at the Life Lexicon