Parity vectors and paradoxical sequences in the accelerated Collatz map
Abstract
This note studies parity vectors and paradoxical sequences in the accelerated Collatz iteration for odd, for even. Building on Rozier and Terracol (arXiv:2502.00948, 2025), Terras (1976), Lagarias (1985), and Tao (2019), we prove three theorems and add one numerical observation. The first is a sharp finitary form of Terras's parity-vector density; the second is a closed-form analytic count of paradoxical for each fixed length . The third is a density-zero theorem for bounded-length paradoxical sequences with explicit constant. As for the numerical piece, among the seven pairs that show up in the Rozier-Terracol enumeration with first term , every paradoxical reduced ratio turns out to be a left convergent, a left semiconvergent, or a Stern-Brocot mediant of adjacent convergents/semiconvergents of . The three theorems are unconditional. The fourth observation is verified for and conjectured for all . We make no claim toward the Collatz conjecture or Terras's coefficient-stopping-time conjecture.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2605.13886,
title = {Parity vectors and paradoxical sequences in the accelerated Collatz map},
author = {Tong Niu},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2605.13886},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
v2: withdrawn - Rozier and Terracol arXiv:2502.00948v4 (April 2026) already enumerate the 593 paradoxical sequences in the accelerated Collatz map up to length 60 and identify the seven (j,q) pairs; the (46,73) mediant observation follows routinely from their data. Withdrawing to avoid duplication