Collatz Conjecture
Intro
The Collatz Conjecture or 3x+1 problem can be summarized as follows:
Take any positive integer n. If n is even, divide n by 2 to get n / 2. If n is odd, multiply n by 3 and add 1 to get 3n + 1. Repeat the process indefinitely. The conjecture states that no matter which number you start with, you will always reach 1 eventually.
Examples
Starting with n = 12, the steps would be as follows:
- 12
- 6
- 3
- 10
- 5
- 16
- 8
- 4
- 2
- 1
Resulting in 9 steps. So for input n = 12, the return value would be 9.
Task
Given a number n, return the number of steps required to reach 1.
The Code
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Last update: February 13, 2021