OFFSET
1,3
COMMENTS
The 3x+k function T_k is defined by T_k(x) = x/2 if x is even, (3x+k)/2 if x is odd.
Lagarias (1990) called a T_k cycle primitive if its elements are all relatively prime to k or, equivalently, if its elements are not a common multiple of the elements of another cycle. He conjectured that, for every positive integer k relatively prime to 6, there is at least one primitive cycle of the map T_k and that the number of such cycles is finite.
For k<158195 no trajectory with a starting value below 10^8 has a primitive cycle whose minimal element exceeds 28306063 (attained when k=103645). This suggests that the 42757 primitive cycles found for k<20000, by examining every trajectory with a starting value below 10^8, are complete. Their largest minimal element is 8013899 (when k=17021).
LINKS
Geoffrey H. Morley, Rows 1..6667 of array, flattened
E. G. Belaga and M. Mignotte, Cyclic Structure of Dynamical Systems Associated with 3x+d Extensions of Collatz Problem, Preprint math. 2000/17, Univ. Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (2000).
E. G. Belaga and M. Mignotte, Walking Cautiously into the Collatz Wilderness: Algorithmically, Number Theoretically, Randomly, Fourth Colloquium on Mathematics and Computer Science, DMTCS proc. AG. (2006), 249-260.
E. G. Belaga and M. Mignotte, The Collatz Problem and Its Generalizations: Experimental Data. Table 1. Primitive Cycles of (3n+d)-mappings, Preprint math. 2006/15, Univ. Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (2006).
E. G. Belaga and M. Mignotte, The Collatz Problem and Its Generalizations: Experimental Data. Table 2. Factorization of Collatz Numbers 2^l-3^k, Preprint math. 2006/15, Univ. Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg (2006).
J. C. Lagarias, The set of rational cycles for the 3x+1 problem, Acta Arith. 56 (1990), 33-53.
EXAMPLE
The irregular array starts:
(k=1) 1;
(k=5) 1, 19, 23, 187, 347;
(k=7) 5;
(k=11) 1, 13;
a(7)=5 is the smallest number in the primitive 3x+7 cycle {5,11,20,10}.
CROSSREFS
KEYWORD
nonn,tabf
AUTHOR
Geoffrey H. Morley, Jun 13 2013
EXTENSIONS
For 0<k<20000 Belaga and Mignotte (2000)'s Table 3 overcounts the d's (our k's) with both 3 and 5 cycles by 1, making their count of 42765 known cycles excessive by 8.
STATUS
approved