Abstract
Conway’s game of Life provides interesting problems in which modelling issues in constraint programming can be explored. The problem of finding a maximum density stable pattern (‘still-life’) is discussed. A formulation of this problem as a constraint satisfaction problem with 0-1 variables and non-binary constraints is compared with its dual graph translation into a binary CSP. The success of the dual translation is surprising, from previously-reported experience, since it has as many variables as the non-binary CSP and very large domains. An important factor is the identification of many redundant constraints: it is shown that these can safely be removed from a dual graph translation if arc consistency is maintained during search.
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© 2002 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Smith, B.M. (2002). A Dual Graph Translation of a Problem in ‘Life’. In: Van Hentenryck, P. (eds) Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2002. CP 2002. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2470. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46135-3_27
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-46135-3_27
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