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arXiv · 2104.10681

The 3x+1 and 5x+1 Problems

Robert Tremblay
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Abstract

We will prove that there are trajectories generated by the function at the origin of the 5x+1 problem which are divergent. The iterative application of this function on the set of positive integers allows us to determine that more than 17% of all these integers start divergent trajectories. Regarding the 3x+1 problem, this percentage tends towards zero, suggesting that all positive integers are part of converging trajectories. Despite this appearance, we cannot conclude that all positive integers belong to convergent trajectories. Nevertheless, the results obtained in this paper allow us to follow the evolution of the distribution of trajectories and to understand why the values of positive integers ending in the integer 1 are more and more large.

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Robert Tremblay. 2021-04-17. The 3x+1 and 5x+1 Problems. https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.10681

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