Related papers: Integer patterns in Collatz sequences

We establish an equivalent condition to the validity of the Collatz conjecture, using elementary methods. We derive some conclusions and show several examples of our results. We also offer a variety of exercises, problems and conjectures.

The dynamical system generated by the iterated calculation of the high order gaps between neighboring terms of a sequence of natural numbers is remarkable and only incidentally characterized at the boundary by the notable Proth-Glibreath…

Let ${\rm rad}(n)$ denote the product of distinct prime factors of an integer $n\geq 1$. The celebrated $abc$ conjecture asks whether every solution to the equation $a+b=c$ in triples of coprime integers $(a,b,c)$ must satisfy ${\rm…

In this paper we show the probabilistic convergence of the original Collatz (3n + 1) (or Hotpo) sequence to unity. A generalized form of the Collatz sequence (GCS) is proposed subsequently. Unlike Hotpo, an instance of a GCS can converge to…

Let $\sigma_n=\lfloor1+n\cdot\log_23\rfloor$. For the Collatz 3x + 1 function exists for each $n\in\mathbb{N}$ a set of different residue classes $(\text{mod}\ 2^{\sigma_n})$ of starting numbers $s$ with finite stopping time…

Given integers $k,l\geq 2$, where either $l$ is odd or $k$ is even, let $n(k,l)$ denote the largest integer $n$ such that each element of $A_n$ is a product of $k$ many $l$-cycles. In 2008, M. Herzog, G. Kaplan and A. Lev proved that if…

Consider $k\ge 2$ distinct, linearly independent, homogeneous linear recurrences of order $k$ satisfying the same recurrence relation. We prove that the recurrences are related to a decomposable form of degree $k$, and there is a very broad…

The cyclic insertion conjecture of Borwein, Bradley, Broadhurst and Lison\v{e}k states that by inserting all cyclic permutations of some initial blocks of 2's into the multiple zeta value $ \zeta(1,3,\ldots,1,3) $ and summing, one obtains…

We describe a new algorithm for verifying the Collatz conjecture for all n < 2^N for some fixed N. The algorithm takes less than twice as long to verify convergence for all n < 2^{N+1} as it does to verify convergence for all n < 2^N. We…

For any integer s >= 0, we derive a combinatorial interpretation for the family of sequences generated by the recursion (parameterized by s) h_s(n) = h_s(n - s - h_s(n - 1)) + h_s(n - 2 - s - h_s(n - 3)), n > s + 3, with the initial…

It is shown that the unique representation of positive integers in terms of tribonacci numbers and the unique representation in terms of iterated A, B and C sequences defined from the tribonacci word are equivalent. Two auxiliary…

Define the \emph{Collatz map} $\mathrm{Col} : \mathbb{N}+1 \to \mathbb{N}+1$ on the positive integers $\mathbb{N}+1 = \{1,2,3,\dots\}$ by setting $\mathrm{Col}(N)$ equal to $3N+1$ when $N$ is odd and $N/2$ when $N$ is even, and let…

In this paper we prove three conjectures on congruences involving central binomial coefficients or Lucas sequences. Let $p$ be an odd prime and let $a$ be a positive integer. We show that if $p\equiv 1\pmod{4}$ or $a>1$ then $$…

We show a general result known as the Erdos_Sos Conjecture: if $E(G)>{1/2}(k-1)n$ where $G$ has order $n$ then $G$ contains every tree of order $k+1$ as a subgraph.

Let a tribonacci sequence be a sequence of integers satisfying $a_k=a_{k-1}+a_{k-2}+a_{k-3}$ for all $k\ge 4$. For any positive integers $k$ and $n$, denote by $f_k(n)$ the number of tribonacci sequences with $a_1, a_2, a_3>0$ and with…

The study describes a class of integer labelings of the Fibonacci tree, the tree of descent introduced by Fibonacci. In these labelings, Fibonacci sequences appear along ascending branches of the tree, and it is shown that the labels at any…

Zeckendorf proved that every positive integer can be expressed as the sum of non-consecutive Fibonacci numbers. This theorem inspired a beautiful game, the Zeckendorf Game. Two players begin with $n \ 1$'s and take turns applying rules…

We prove new results on the additive theory of reversed primes $\overleftarrow{p}$; that is, primes $p$ which are written backwards in a fixed base $b\geq 2$. In particular, we study a variant of Goldbach's conjecture, looking at…

The maximum number of vertices in a graph of maximum degree $\Delta\ge 3$ and fixed diameter $k\ge 2$ is upper bounded by $(1+o(1))(\Delta-1)^{k}$. If we restrict our graphs to certain classes, better upper bounds are known. For instance,…

The following result, a consequence of Dumas criterion for irreducibility of polynomials over integers, is generally proved using the notion of Newton diagram: Let $f(x)$ be a polynomial with integer coefficients and $k$ be a positive…