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A061641 Pure numbers in the Collatz (3x+1) iteration. Also called pure hailstone numbers. 18
0, 1, 3, 6, 7, 9, 12, 15, 18, 19, 21, 24, 25, 27, 30, 33, 36, 37, 39, 42, 43, 45, 48, 51, 54, 55, 57, 60, 63, 66, 69, 72, 73, 75, 78, 79, 81, 84, 87, 90, 93, 96, 97, 99, 102, 105, 108, 109, 111, 114, 115, 117, 120, 123, 126, 127, 129, 132, 133, 135, 138, 141, 144, 145 (list; graph; refs; listen; history; text; internal format)
OFFSET
1,3
COMMENTS
Let {f(k,N), k=0,1,2,...} denote the (3x+1)-sequence with starting value N; a(n) denotes the smallest positive integer which is not contained in the union of f(k,0),...,f(k,a(n-1)).
In other words, a(n) is the starting value of the next '3x+1'-sequences in the sense that a(n) is not a value in any sequence f(k,N) with N < a(n).
f(0,N)=N, f(k+1,N)=f(k,N)/2 if f(k,N) is even and f(k+1,N)=3*f(k,N)+1 if f(k,N) is odd.
For all n, a(n) mod 6 is 0, 1 or 3. I conjecture that a(n)/n -> C=constant for n->oo, where C=2.311...
The Collatz conjecture says that for all positive n, there exists k such that C_k(n) = 1. Shaw states [p. 195] that "A positive integer n is pure if its entire tree of preimages under the Collatz function C are greater than or equal to it; otherwise n is impure. Equivalently, a positive integer n is impure if there exists r<n such that C_k(r) = n for some k." Theorem 2.1: If n == 0 (mod 3), then n is pure. If n == 2 (mod 3), then n is impure, reducing the field to 1 (mod 3). (mod 18), the following congruences are pure: n == 0 (mod 18); also 3, 6, 9, 12, 15; while n == 7 (mod 18) may be pure or impure. n == [2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, or 17] (mod 18) are all impure. The asymptotic density d of the set of impure numbers I is such that d <= 2/3. - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 28 2007
Pure numbers remaining after deleting the impure numbers in the hailstone (Collatz) problem; where the operation C(n) = {3n+1, n odd; n/2, n even}. Add the 0 mod 3 terms in order, among the terms of A127633, since all 0 mod 3 numbers are pure. - Gary W. Adamson, Jan 28 2007
After computing all a(n) < 10^9, the ratio a(n)/n appears to be converging to 2.31303... Hence it appears that the numbers in this sequence have a density of about 1/3 (due to all multiples of 3) + 99/1000. - T. D. Noe, Oct 12 2007
A016945 is a subsequence. - Reinhard Zumkeller, Apr 17 2008
LINKS
Douglas J. Shaw, The Pure Numbers Generated by the Collatz Sequence, The Fibonacci Quarterly, Vol. 44, Number 3, August 2006, pp. 194-201.
B. Snapp and M. Tracy, The Collatz Problem and analogues, JIS 11 (2008) 08.4.7.
EXAMPLE
Consider n=3: C(n), C_2(n), C_3(n), ...; the iterates are 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1, 4, 2, 1; where 4, 5, 8, 10 and 16 have appeared in the orbit of 3 and are thus impure.
a(1)=1 since Im(f(k,0))={0} for all k and so 1 is not a value of f(k,0). a(2)=3 since Im(f(k,0)) union Im(f(k,1))={0,1,2,4} and 3 is the smallest positive integer not contained in this set.
MATHEMATICA
DoCollatz[n_] := Module[{m = n}, While[m > nn || ! reached[[m]], If[m <= nn, reached[[m]] = True]; If[EvenQ[m], m = m/2, m = 3 m + 1]]]; nn = 200; reached = Table[False, {nn}]; t = {0, 1}; While[DoCollatz[t[[-1]]]; pos = Position[reached, False, 1, 1]; pos != {}, AppendTo[t, pos[[1, 1]]]]; t (* T. D. Noe, Jan 22 2013 *)
PROG
(PARI) firstMiss(A) = { my(i); if(#A == 0 || A[1] > 0, return(0)); for(i = 1, A[#A] + 1, if(!setsearch(A, i), return(i))); };
iter(A) = { my(a = firstMiss(A)); while(!setsearch(A, a), A = setunion(A, Set([a])); a = if(a % 2, 3*a+1, a/2)); A; };
makeVec(m) = { my(v = [], A = Set([]), i); for(i = 1, m, v = concat(v, firstMiss(A)); if (i < m, A = iter(A))); v; };
makeVec(64) \\ Markus Sigg, Aug 08 2020
CROSSREFS
Cf. A070165 (Collatz trajectories), A127633, A336938, A336938. See A177729 for a variant.
Sequence in context: A026232 A286802 A297249 * A325443 A085359 A231664
KEYWORD
nice,nonn
AUTHOR
Frederick Magata (frederick.magata(AT)uni-muenster.de), Jun 14 2001
EXTENSIONS
Edited by T. D. Noe and N. J. A. Sloane, Oct 16 2007
STATUS
approved

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Last modified April 23 20:33 EDT 2024. Contains 371916 sequences. (Running on oeis4.)