TITLE:
The 3x + 1 Conjecture, a Direct Path
AUTHORS:
Salvador Bermúdez Gómez
KEYWORDS:
3x + 1, Collatz, Solved, Computer Science, Number Theory, New Algo-rithm
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Computational Mathematics,
Vol.13 No.2,
June
27,
2023
ABSTRACT: The 3x + 1 problem, is a math problem that
has baffled mathematicians for over 50 years. It’s easy to explain: take any
positive number, if it’s even, divide it by 2; if it’s odd, multiply it by 3
and add 1. Repeat this process with the resulting number, and the conjecture
says that you will eventually reach 1. Despite testing all starting values up
to an enormous number, no one has proved the conjecture is true for all
possible starting values. The problem’s importance lies in its simplicity and
difficulty, inspiring new ideas in mathematics and advancing fields like number
theory, dynamical systems, and computer science. Proving or disproving the
conjecture would revolutionize our understanding of math. The presence of
infinite sequences is a matter of question. To investigate and solve this
conjecture, we are utilizing a novel approach involving the fields of number
theory and computer science.