Related papers: Method Study on the 3x+1 Problem

Many practical problems in almost all scientific and technological disciplines have been classified as computationally hard (NP-hard or even NP-complete). In life sciences, combinatorial optimization problems frequently arise in molecular…

Let $T \colon \mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{N}$ denote the $3x+1$ function, where $T(n)=n/2$ if $n$ is even, $T(n)=(3n+1)/2$ if $n$ is odd. As an accelerated version of $T$, we define a jump at $n \ge 1$ by jp$(n) = T^{(\ell)}(n)$, where $\ell$ is…

In 1851 Prouhet showed that when $N=j^{k+1}$ where $j$ and $k$ are positive integers, $j \geq 2$, the first $N$ consecutive positive integers can be separated into $j$ sets, each set containing $j^k$ integers, such that the sum of the…

We propose the existence of an infinite class of exact analogues of the 3x+1 conjecture for rational numbers with fixed denominators. For some other denominators, there are several attracting cycles, which exhibit scaling and covariance…

The celebrated $3x+1$ problem is reformulated via the use of an analytic expression of the trailing zeros sequence resulting in a single branch formula $f(x)+1$ with a unique fixed point. The resultant formula $f(x)$ is also found to…

A general quantum algorithm for solving a problem is discussed. The number of steps required to solve a problem using this method is independent of the number of cases that has to be considered classically. Hence, it is more efficient than…

The Collatz problem is one of many names (the Collatz Problem, the Syracuse Problem, the Hailstone Problem, the 3x+1 problem). Most commonly, however, the problem goes by either the 3x+1 problem or the Collatz problem. In addition to having…

Regard the closed interval $[0,1]$ as a stick. Partition $[0,1]$ into $n+1$ different intervals $I_1, \ \dots \ , I_{n+1},$ where $n \geq 2,$ which represent smaller sticks. The classical Broken Stick problem asks to find the probability…

Consider the set $\{1,2,\ldots,3n\}$. We are interested in the number of partitions of this set into subsets of three elements each, where the sum of two of them equals the third. We give some criteria such a partition has to fulfill, which…

Recent research has demonstrated that quantum computers can solve certain types of problems substantially faster than the known classical algorithms. These problems include factoring integers and certain physics simulations. Practical…

Computational complexity is a core theory of computer science, which dictates the degree of difficulty of computation. There are many problems with high complexity that we have to deal, which is especially true for AI. This raises a big…

The problem of P vs. NP is very serious, and solutions to the problem can help save lives. This article is an attempt at solving the problem using a computer algorithm. It is presented in a fashion that will hopefully allow for easy…

It is well-known that for any distinct positive integers $k$ and $n$, the numbers $2^{2^k}+1$ and $2^{2^n}+1$ are relatively prime. In this paper we consider the situation when 1 is replaced by some positive integer $d>1$

Let $k,l\geq2$ be fixed integers. In this paper, firstly, we prove that all solutions of the equation $(x+1)^{k}+(x+2)^{k}+...+(lx)^{k}=y^{n}$ in integers $x,y,n$ with $x,y\geq1, n\geq2$ satisfy $n<C_{1}$ where $C_{1}=C_{1}(l,k)$ is an…

We demonstrate the existence of $K$-multimagic squares of order $N$ consisting of distinct integers whenever $N>2 K(K+1)$. This improves upon our earlier result in which we only required $N+1$ distinct integers. Additionally, we present a…

The $k$-subset sum problem over finite fields is a classical NP-complete problem.Motivated by coding theory applications, a more complex problem is the higher $m$-th moment $k$-subset sum problem over finite fields. We show that there is a…

It is well known that the following Collatz Conjecture is one of the unsolved problems in mathematics. Collatz Conjecture: For any positive integer $n>1$, the following recursive algorithm will convergent to 1 by a finite number of steps.…

We present a multi-step quantum algorithm for solving the $3$-bit exact cover problem, which is one of the NP-complete problems. Unlike the brute force methods have been tried before, in this algorithm, we showed that by applying the…

It is well known that the repeated square and multiply algorithm is an efficient way of modular exponentiation. The obvious question to ask is if this algorithm has an inverse which would calculate the discrete logarithm efficiently. The…

In this article we further develop methods for representing integers as a sum of three cubes. In particular, a barrier to solving the case $k=3$, which was outlined in a previous paper of the second author, is overcome. A very recent…