Collatz Conjecture Search

Home New Article Article Search Tag Search Asset Upload Asset Search

Search

Enter a Positive Integer (a whole number above 1) and using the Collatz Conjecture and Prime Factorization you will be able to see how it creates prime number pairs.

Results:
Collatz Conjecture
Consider the following operation on an arbitrary positive integer:
If the number is even, divide it by two.
If the number is odd, triple it and add one.

So for all even numbers, we would have: n/2
and for all odd numbers, we would have: n * 3 + 1

The Collatz conjecture is: This process will eventually reach the number 1, regardless of which positive integer is chosen initially.

This is also known as the 4-2-1 Loop where 1 * 3 + 1 = 4 creates an infinite loop.


Collatz Conjecture and Prime Factorization

I have broken out the Prime Factorization so you can see they create a chain of 2 * 2 * 2 then Prime Numbers multiplied by other Prime Numbers like with RSA Encryption and 'Large Prime Number Pairs' (n = p * q). Note: This is not the same as Twin Primes like with 3-4-5 or 11-12-13 or 101-102-103.

I have also broken out this "Waterfall" effect when numbers are divisible by 2 and converted them to a Base 2 prefix. This may not make sense in this context, but when you divide a number by 2, its like Base 2 (binary) in reverse in this context until you reach 2^0 = 1.

A basic example of this would be for the following:

2 * 2 * 2 * 11 = 88

Could be written as 2^3 = 8 (Powers of Two) which is the same as 8 * 11 = 88

As each round is dividing the even numbers by 2, you will see this walk down the base 2 number line until you reach a Prime Number or Primes Multiplied by other Prime Numbers.

In this particular case, we would keep dividing by 2 until we reach 11 which is a Prime Number and can't be broken down any further.

Note: You may also notice this 'Base 2 prefix' pattern of 2^2 - 2^1 - 2^0 is a '4-2-1 loop' as well, resulting in an odd number and the conjecture starts again (n * 3 + 1). If you have ever worked with CIDR Notation and Subnet Masks, this is why I am grouping them this way, they can act like Subnet Mask bits and Prime^2 -1 = 24 * n (which is a /24 mask and can be found in a 3-4-5 triangle as tangent 3/4 = 0.75). In the diagram below you could also look at it as 2^3 + 2^4 = 24 = 2^5 - 2^3

Another Example: 2 * 2 * 2 * 2 * 7 * 11 = 1232 or 2^4 = 16 * 7 * 11 = 1232



Image from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_of_two


Give 341 and 149 a try for yourself!