The Points of Life 
TCNJ Math League – 2025 July 25
Glen Whitney
studioinfinity.org/points

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What has come before

2016

2017

2018

What has come more recently

2016

2017

2018

2019

2023

2025

?

What are those?

Conway’s Game of Life

Credit: Takayuki Hirose & Tetsuo Sawaragi

Conway’s Game of Life

Faces ⟶ Edges

But we need a rule…

Adapt to edges

And now?

Gives us a rule:

Let’s check it out…

Are we there yet?

• Can’t really tell the difference between vertices and faces…
• Any starting pattern takes over the world

One alternative

Let’s try that out…

Take advantage of 3D?

Let’s see how that looks…

What to build?

A
B
C