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Least prime p such that prime(n) is the next prime number in the Collatz (3x+1) iteration of p, or 0 if there is no such prime.
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%I #3 May 22 2013 14:05:31

%S 5,0,3,37,7,17,11,101,61,19,41,197,109,229,31

%N Least prime p such that prime(n) is the next prime number in the Collatz (3x+1) iteration of p, or 0 if there is no such prime.

%C The next term, surprisingly, is the 2743-digit (53 * 2^9107 - 1)/3. See A177331 for additional prime numbers, besides 3, that are not in the Collatz iteration of any prime number.

%e a(4) = 37 because the Collatz iteration of 37 is {37, 112, 56, 28, 14, 7, 22, 11, 34, 17, 52, 26, 13, 40, 20, 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1}, which shows that 7 is the next prime after 37.

%t Table[p = Prime[n]; If[p == 3, q = 0, k = 1; While[q = (p*2^k - 1)/3; k < 10000 && ! PrimeQ[q], k++]]; q, {n, 15}]

%Y Cf. A070165, A177330, A177331.

%K nonn

%O 1,1

%A _T. D. Noe_, May 22 2013