Here’s something I’ve been puzzling about ever since I first heard of it a few weeks ago. It involves a very simple algorithm to apply to a natural number n. Let’s call it COLLATZ:

function COLLATZ(n):
if n is even: return n/2
else: return 3n + 1

The Collatz conjecture states that, for any natural number n > 1, repeated applications of the COLLATZ procedure will eventually yield 1. Continue reading The Collatz Conjecture →