Author(s)

Klaus Sutner

Abstract

We demonstrate automata, a Mathematica/C+i- hybrid system, that facilitates computation with finite state machines. In particular, we describe two applica- tions of the system to the analysis of cellular automata. 1 The Applications We will first briefly describe two applications of our package to the study of cel- lular automata, more detailed accounts can be found in the references. In both cases, extensive computational experiments were required to formulate appropri- ate conjectures. Mathematica is used as a general compute engine and also as a repository for data, text, and graphics. The external part of the package is specialized to perform computations on large finite state machines quickly. The combination of both components makes it easy to handle large scale computa- tions in a clear and easily reproducible fashion. The abilit

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