English

A non-uniform distribution property of most orbits, in case the $3x+1$ conjecture is true

Number Theory 2016-11-10 v2

Abstract

Let T(n)={3n+1(n odd)n2(n even)T(n)=\left\{\begin{array}{ll}3n+1&(n\hbox{ odd})\frac n2&(n\hbox{ even})\end{array}\right. (nZn\in\mathbb Z). We call "the orbit of the integer nn", the set On:={mZ  :  k0, m=Tk(n)} \mathcal O_n:=\{m\in\mathbb Z\;:\;\exists k\ge0,\ m=T^k(n)\} and we put ci(n):=#{mOn  :  mi mod.18}c_i(n):=\#\{m\in\mathcal O_n\;:\;m\equiv i\hbox{ mod.}18\}. Let WW be the set of the integers whose orbit contains 11 and is, in the following sense, about well distributed modulo 1818 between the six elements of the set I:={1,5,7,11,13,17}I:=\{1,5,7,11,13,17\} (the elements of \{1,\dots,18\} that are odd and not divisible by 33). More precisely: W:={nN  :  k0, Tk(n)=1 and iI, ci(n)iIci(n)16+0.0215}. W:=\Big\{n\in\mathbb N\;:\;\exists k\ge0,\ T^k(n)=1\hbox{ and }\forall i\in I,\ \frac{c_i(n)}{\sum_{i\in I}c_i(n)}\le\frac16+0.0215\Big\}. We prove that WW has density 00 in N\mathbb N. Consequently, if the 3x+13x+1 conjecture is true, most of the positive integers nn satisfy maxiIci(n)iIci(n)>16+0.0215. \frac{\max_{i\in I}c_i(n)}{\sum_{i\in I}c_i(n)}>\frac16+0.0215.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1512.05852,
  title  = {A non-uniform distribution property of most orbits, in case the $3x+1$ conjecture is true},
  author = {Alain Thomas},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1512.05852},
  year   = {2016}
}

Comments

9 pages, to publish in Acta Arithmetica