exercism/c/collatz-conjecture/README.md

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2024-06-09 22:28:04 -04:00
# Collatz Conjecture
Welcome to Collatz Conjecture on Exercism's C Track.
If you need help running the tests or submitting your code, check out `HELP.md`.
## Instructions
The Collatz Conjecture or 3x+1 problem can be summarized as follows:
Take any positive integer n.
If n is even, divide n by 2 to get n / 2.
If n is odd, multiply n by 3 and add 1 to get 3n + 1.
Repeat the process indefinitely.
The conjecture states that no matter which number you start with, you will always reach 1 eventually.
Given a number n, return the number of steps required to reach 1.
## Examples
Starting with n = 12, the steps would be as follows:
0. 12
1. 6
2. 3
3. 10
4. 5
5. 16
6. 8
7. 4
8. 2
9. 1
Resulting in 9 steps.
So for input n = 12, the return value would be 9.
## Source
### Created by
- @RealBarrettBrown
### Contributed to by
- @bcc32
- @h-3-0
- @patricksjackson
- @QLaille
- @ryanplusplus
- @wolf99
### Based on
An unsolved problem in mathematics named after mathematician Lothar Collatz - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3x_%2B_1_problem