The states of nerve cells are represented by a number between 0 and n - 1 (n = amount of different states). A nerve cell in state 0 corresponds to a quiescent state, whilst a nerve cell in state n - 1 corresponds to a burned state. All states in between exhibit a degree of depolarisation, corresponding to the number of their state. The closer a nerve cell's state number gets to n - 1 the more depolarised it becomes.

The global transition function F is defined by three rules simultaneously applied to each nerve cell, selected according to its current state: quiescent, burned or depolarised. The rules are as follows:

(a) if quiescent: it may or may not become depolarised at the next tick of the clock (t + 1). This depends upon the number of polarised nerve cells (Pcells) in its neighbourhood (8 neighbours), the number of burned nerve cell (Bcells) in its neighbourhood and the resistance to being burned (r1 and r2) of the nerve cell.

(b) if depolarised: the tendency is to become more depolarised as the clock t evolves. Its state at the next tick of the clock (t + 1 ) depends upon two factors: the capacitance k of the nerve cell and the degree of polarisation of its neighbourhood. The degree of polarisation of the neighbourhood is the sum of the numbers which correspond to the states of the 8 neighbours (Pdegree) divided by the number of polarised neighbours (Pcells).

(c) if burned: a burned cell at time t generates a new quiescent nerve cell at time t + 1.

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