Credited to London Stereoscopic and Photographic Company; photographer unknown. published in 1897 in The Strand Magazine (see File:Zazel The Strand 1897.jpg)., Public Domain.

A human cannonball’s son wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps — but he just couldn’t. He wasn’t up to caliber 😊.

Are you up to caliber?   Clever nerds must be able to think strategically. With this in mind, consider the following: During World War II, American infantry rifles used .30-caliber (7.62 mm) ammunition. When Japan entered the war, they began producing rifles that used .31-caliber (7.7 mm) bullets instead. Here’s this week’s Micro Softy.  

Now the question is, why would the Japanese design their rifles to use a slightly larger .31-caliber bullet if they already had smaller-caliber weapons available?

Solution to Micro Softy 85: The Followers

Last week, we considered a swarm called The Followers. The rules couldn’t be simpler. Each bug in the swarm randomly selects another bug and starts moving toward it. The question is, what happens over time?  What are the possible emergent behaviors that arise from this kind of swarm? Note that if a bug chooses itself to follow, it stays put.

Solution to Micro Softy 85: The Followers Last week, we considered a swarm called The Followers. The rules couldn’t be simpler. Each bug in the swarm randomly selects another bug and starts moving toward it. The question is, what happens over time?  What are the possible emergent behaviors that arise from this kind of swarm? Note that if a bug chooses itself to follow, it stays put.

The results are in shown in Figure 1 below. On the left, the swarm begins in a random, scattered arrangement. Each bug has selected another to follow. On the right, we see how the simple swarm rule evolves into striking patterns. A thin elliptical loop forms where several bugs are endlessly chasing one another, and over time, the loop gradually shrinks to a point. Just to the left of this ellipse appears a pattern that looks like a question mark. At the end of this pattern sits a single bug that has chosen itself to follow — remaining perfectly still — while all the others steadily march toward it, eventually converging at that same point. Finally, a solitary dot in the figure represents a lone bug that follows only itself and has no followers. No bug in a group follows a bug in another group.

These are the fascinating emergent behaviors produced by the Followers swarm.

Below is a fun video that shows these patterns emerging over time.

Note: For those interested in the math behind the Peacemaker, Coward and Followers swarms we have looked at in the last few Micro Softies, take a look here: Gravagne, Ian A., and Robert J. Marks. “Emergent behaviors of protector, refugee, and aggressor swarms.” IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, Part B (Cybernetics) 37, no. 2 (2007): 471-476.

The Monday Micro Softy is a weekly feature of Mind Matters News. Here are the links to all the puzzles and answers to date:

Monday Micro Softy84: Meet the FollowersWhat happens when everyone in the swarm is a follower? To solve last week’s puzzle, we should picture what must happen when every bug wants to place itself between two other bugs.

Monday Micro Softy 83: A Swarm of Cowards? In terms of swarm intelligence, what happens if we have a swarm of cowards instead of peacemakers? We continue to explore the way simple roles followed by unintelligent agents — even dumb bugs — can yield complex behavior.

Image Credit: PNG - Adobe Stock

Monday Micro Softy 82:  When Bugs Break Up Fights. A surprising amount of intelligence of use in the computer industry can be learned from watching insects. To solve last week’s puzzle, keep in mind that every termite is doing the same thing. You can find puzzles 77 through 81 here as well.

Monday Micro Softy 81: Termites are Surprisingly Smart. Provided we agree to count swarm intelligence, which we also use in computer science. Swarm intelligence enables the colony to converge on the shortest and most efficient path to food without any individual being especially smart.

Monday Micro Softy 80: The Digits of Least Significance. The patterns found in numbers can be useful as well as fascinating. Last week’s puzzle is also easier to solve if we observe some of the patterns that number theory reveals.

Monday Micro Softy 79: The Last Digits in Fermat’s Last Theorem. Did Andrew Wiles really prove Fermat’s Last Theorem? Today we offer you a chance to decide. About last week’s MicroSofty: Think of the probability issue as just a distraction…

Monday Micro Softy 78: Card Sharks That Bite Harder. You can beat the odds in some card games if you understand probability theory. Try your chances! Last week’s puzzle, like several others, is easy to solve if we use inclusive thinking about relationships.

Monday Micro Softy 77: Two Proud Texans  I’m aware of no other state where businesses and citizens proudly fly their state flag. I live in McGregor, Texas, where Elon Musk’s Space X has a testing center, and occasionally, the testing of their rocket engines gently rattles the dishes on the shelves in my home. 

Monday Micro Softy 76: The Smoking Gun explains a computer scientist or engineer, a law enforcement officer often relies on abductive reasoning to crack a case, so with this in mind, you will have to crack last week’s puzzle. You can find puzzles 55 through 75 here as well.

Monday Micro Softy 55: “It happens every spring.” Baseball, that is. Here’s a puzzle that takes in baseball’s summer. To solve last week’s puzzle, you don’t need to know the distance. Check the problem again for the number you do need to know. You can find puzzles 51 through 54 here as well.

Image Credit: spuno - Adobe Stock

Monday Micro Softy 50: Cutting through the cornbread. How did Yuri Senior cut the cornbread into eight identical portions using only three straight cuts? You can guess the answer to Microsofty 49 if you try the test question yourself at home, using a small mirror. Links to Microsofties 46 through 49 are here as well.

Monday Micro Softy 45: Can Tony beat the fast-food curfew? An early curfew on fast food service motivated a boy to exercise more vigorously. But how fast was he pedalling? To solve Micro Softy 44, recall that Tony doesn’t need to take the individual pills each day, only the prescribed amount of each. You will find links here to Micros Softies 41 through 44 as well.

Monday Micro Softy 40: The fate of a false prophet. He wasn’t actually fired for being a false prophet but for something that his prophecy unintentionally revealed. The solution to Micro Softy 39 lies in considering an alternative possible meaning of a word commonly used in sports. You will also find links to Micro Softies 30 through 39 and their answers here as well.

Monday Micro Softy 29: A funeral lament in four lines. The funeral director was puzzled by Dan’s description of his relationship to the deceased but there was no question that his grief was sincere Here, you will also find links to Microsofties 22 through 29.

Monday Micro Softy 21: Finding More of the Deadly Fentanyl Pills. Here, you will also find links to Microsofties 11 through 20 as well.

Monday Micro Softy 11: What Happened to That Other Dollar? Here you will find links to the first ten Micro Softies. Have fun!