ABSTRACT

Are mathematical equations the best way to model nature? For many years it had been assumed that they were. But in the early 1980s, Stephen Wolfram made the radical proposal that one should instead build models that are based directly on simple computer programs. Wolfram made a detailed study of a class of such models known as cellular automata, and discovered a remarkable fact: that even when the underlying rules are very simple, the behaviour they produce can be highly complex, and can mimic many features of what we see in nature. And based on this result, Wolfram began a program of research to develop what he called A Science of Complexity."The results of Wolfram's work found many applications, from the so-called Wolfram Classification central to fields such as artificial life, to new ideas about cryptography and fluid dynamics. This book is a collection of Wolfram's original papers on cellular automata and complexity. Some of these papers are widely known in the scientific community others have never been published before. Together, the papers provide a highly readable account of what has become a major new field of science, with important implications for physics, biology, economics, computer science and many other areas.

part 1|408 pages

Primary Papers

chapter 1|67 pages

Statistical Mechanics of Cellular Automata

1983

chapter 2|43 pages

Algebraic Properties of Cellular Automata

1984

chapter 3|43 pages

Universality and Complexity in Cellular Automata

1984

chapter 4|44 pages

Computation Theory of Cellular Automata

1984

chapter 6|39 pages

Two-Dimensional Cellular Automata

1985

chapter 7|8 pages

Origins of Randomness in Physical Systems

1985

chapter 9|41 pages

Random Sequence Generation by Cellular Automata

1986

chapter 10|20 pages

Approaches to Complexity Engineering

1986

chapter 12|50 pages

Cellular Automaton Fluids: Basic Theory

1986

part 2|67 pages

Additional and Survey Papers

chapter 13|27 pages

Cellular Automata

1983

chapter 14|11 pages

Computers in Science and Mathematics

1984

chapter 15|6 pages

Geometry of Binomial Coefficients

1984

chapter 16|29 pages

Twenty Problems in the Theory of Cellular Automata

1985

chapter 17|4 pages

Cryptography with Cellular Automata

1986

chapter 18|7 pages

Complex Systems Theory

1988

chapter 19|11 pages

Cellular Automaton Supercomputing

1988

part 3|74 pages

Appendices

chapter 20|72 pages

Tables of Cellular Automaton Properties

1986