The statistical properties of automata, both theoretical and empirical, are of the utmost importance. The CAM event counter, accompanied by suitable programming, can be used to collect different kinds of data; naturally the programming increases in complexity as the quantity of data to be extracted increases.
The probabilistic section is not only a major constituent of all the LCAU programs; they incorporate a fair diversity of analysis. The calculation of a ``mean field curve,'' which describes the change of probability from one generation to the next, assumes that the state probabilities are not correlated among neighboring cells. The assumption has varying degrees of validity from one automaton to another, but it always provides a valuable frame of reference. More elaborate calculations, in terms of ``block probabilities,'' are also included in LCAU .