Related papers: On the solution of the Collatz problem

The 3x+1 problem concerns iteration of the map T(n) =(3n+1)/2 if n odd; n/2 if n even. The 3x +1 Conjecture asserts that for every positive integer n>1 the forward orbit of n includes the integer 1. This paper is an annotated bibliography…

Non-linear recurrences which generate integers in a surprising way have been studied by many people. Typically people study recurrences that are linear in the highest order term. In this paper I consider what happens when the recurrence is…

This paper presents an algorithmic method that, given a positive integer $j$, generates the $j$-th convergence stair containing all natural numbers from where the Collatz conjecture holds by exactly $j$ applications of the Collatz function.…

Let $p$ and $q$ be two distinct fixed prime numbers and $(n_i)_{i\geq 0}$ the sequence of consecutive integers of the form $p^a\cdot q^b$ with $a,b\ge 0$. Tijdeman gave a lower bound (1973) and an upper bound (1974) for the gap size…

For any positive integer $m$, let $\mathbb{Z}_{m}$ be the set of residue classes modulo $m$. For $A\subseteq \mathbb{Z}_{m}$ and $\overline{n}\in \mathbb{Z}_{m}$, let representation function $R_{A}(\overline{n})$ denote the number of…

We propose Reduced Collatz Conjecture that is equivalent to Collatz Conjecture, which states that every positive integer can return to an integer less than it, instead of 1. Reduced Collatz Conjecture is easier to explore because certain…

For $m\geq 1$, let $0<b_0<b_1<...<b_m$ and $\ e_0,e_1,...,e_m>0$ be fixed positive integers. Assume there exists a prime $p$ and an integer $t>0$ such that $p^t\mid b_0$, but $p^t\nmid b_{i}\ {\rm for}\ 1\leq i\leq m$. Then, we prove that…

Let $m$ be a positive integer larger than $1$, let $w$ be a finite word over $\left\{0,1,...,m-1\right\}$ and let $a_{m;w}(n)$ be the number of occurrences of the word $w$ in the $m$-expansion of $n$ mod $p$ for any non-negative integer…

We determine all triples $(a,b,n)$ of positive integers such that $a$ and $b$ are relatively prime and $n^k$ divides $a^n + b^n$ (respectively, $a^n - b^n$), when $k$ is the maximum of $a$ and $b$ (in fact, we answer a slightly more general…

This work represents an in-depth study of the structural behavior of the Collatz sequences. We consider a finite arithmetic progression with a common difference is 2 and the number of terms in the sequence is equal to 2^n . After, we…

Professor Cadogan at the University of the West Indies identified special starting points that yield long subsequences where the normalization constant, k, is always one. I studied these special sequences and found an implicit mixed integer…

For positive integers m and r, one can easily show there exist integers N such that for every map D:{1,2,...,N} -> {1,2,...,r} there exist 2m integers x_1 < ... < x_m < y_1 < ... < y_m which satisfy: (a) D(x_1) = ... = D(x_m), (b) D(y_1) =…

A recast of the standard residue-class analysis of the 3x+1 (Collatz) map in terms of two elementary operators on arithmetic progressions. The resulting calculus (i) splits any progression into its even and odd subsequences in a single…

A tensor $\mathcal T\in \mathbb T(\mathbb C^n,m+1)$, the space of tensors of order $m+1$ and dimension $n$ with complex entries, has $nm^{n-1}$ eigenvalues (counted with algebraic multiplicities). The inverse eigenvalue problem for tensors…

We prove a conjecture that classifies exceptional numbers. This conjecture arises in two different ways, from cryptography and from coding theory. An odd integer $t\geq 3$ is said to be exceptional if $f(x)=x^t$ is APN (Almost Perfect…

Let $\Bbb Z$ and $\Bbb N$ be the set of integers and the set of positive integers, respectively. For $a,b,c,d,n\in\Bbb N$ let $N(a,b,c,d;n)$ be the number of representations of $n$ by $ax^2+by^2+cz^2+dw^2$, and let $t(a,b,c,d;n)$ be the…

Given non-negative integers $v, m, n, \alpha, \beta$, the Hamilton-Waterloo problem asks for a factorization of the complete graph $K_v$ into $\alpha$ $C_m$-factors and $\beta$ $C_n$-factors. Clearly, $v$ odd, $n,m\geq 3$, $m\mid v$, $n\mid…

If the equation of the title has an integer solution with k>=2, then m>10^{10^6}. Leo Moser showed this in 1953 by amazingly elementary methods. With the hindsight of more than 50 years his proof can be somewhat simplified. We give a…

We give a new proof of the following statement: the Catalan number $C_n$ is divisible by $n+2$, if $n$ is odd and $n\not\equiv 1\text{ mod }3$.

In recent work, M. Schneider and the first author studied a curious class of integer partitions called "sequentially congruent" partitions: the $m$th part is congruent to the $(m+1)$th part modulo $m$, with the smallest part congruent to…