Extra Credit #2

Due: Thursday, February 8, 2018 at 11:59 p.m.
Points: 30

Please turn in your answers for the homework assignment on Canvas under Extra Credit #1 there.

  1. (30 points) Define the function:
    if x is even, divide by 2; if odd, multiply by 3 and add 1
    The Collatz conjecture says that, if you iterate this sequence for any initial value of n, then eventually the sequence will reach the number 1.

    For a given number n, let k be the least number of iterations needed to reach the number 1 (excluding the initial value). Then k is called the total stopping time of n.

    For example, if n = 29, then the sequence is:

    29 88 44 22 11 34 17 52 26 13 40 20 10 5 16 8 4 2 1
    and so the total stopping time of 29 is 18.

    Write a program that takes as input a positive integer and prints both the sequence and the total stopping time for that integer. The output should look like:

    29 88 44 22 11 34 17 52 26 13 40 20 10 5 16 8 4 2 1
    The total stopping time for 29 is 18

Matt Bishop
Department of Computer Science
University of California at Davis
Davis, CA 95616-8562 USA
Last modified: Version of February 1, 2018 at 5:49PM
Winter Quarter 2018
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