A384694 Sum of the number of cells alive after 2 generations of Conway's game of life for initial 1 X n cells taken in all 2^n combinations of alive or dead.
0, 0, 3, 12, 35, 92, 228, 544, 1264, 2880, 6464, 14336, 31488, 68608, 148480, 319488, 684032, 1458176, 3096576, 6553600, 13828096, 29097984, 61079552, 127926272, 267386880, 557842432, 1161822208, 2415919104, 5016387584, 10401873920, 21541945344, 44560285696, 92073361408, 190052302848, 391915765760
Offset: 0
Examples
For n = 5, there are 5 ways for the cells to evolve into a blinker: ..OOO, O.OOO, .OOO., OOO.., OOO.O; 4 ways for the cells to evolve into a beehive predecessor and then a beehive: OOOO., .OOOO; 1 way for it to evolve into 8 cells: OOOOO, so a(5) = 3 * 5 + 6 * 2 + 8 * 1 = 35.
Links
- LifeWiki, One cell thick pattern
- Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature (4,-4).
Crossrefs
Cf. A167667 (after one generation).
Formula
G.f.: x^2*(3 - x^2)/(1 - 4*x + 4*x^2).
a(n) = 2^(n - 5) * (11*n - 20).
E.g.f.: (9 - 4*x - 2*x^2 + exp(2*x)*(22*x - 9))/16. - Stefano Spezia, Jun 07 2025
Comments