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Hailstone Problem

The document discusses a mathematical puzzle called the Hailstone sequence, where a number is repeatedly divided by 2 if even or multiplied by 3 and added to 1 if odd, until reaching 1. It provides an example of the sequence starting from 15. Students are tasked with writing a Java program that takes a number from the user and displays the Hailstone sequence for that number and the number of steps taken to reach 1.

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Suganya Selvaraj
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165 views2 pages

Hailstone Problem

The document discusses a mathematical puzzle called the Hailstone sequence, where a number is repeatedly divided by 2 if even or multiplied by 3 and added to 1 if odd, until reaching 1. It provides an example of the sequence starting from 15. Students are tasked with writing a Java program that takes a number from the user and displays the Hailstone sequence for that number and the number of steps taken to reach 1.

Uploaded by

Suganya Selvaraj
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Prerequisites:

Basics of JAVA Programming

Eligiblity:

Those who have completed beginner CORE level Java Programming courses in their curriculum

Task 1:

In the philosophical excursion on the topics of holism and reductionism, the bookreader referred to
Douglas Hofstadter’s Pulitzer-prize-winning book Gödel, Escher, Bach. Hofstadter’s book contains
many interesting mathematical puzzles, many of which can be expressed in the form of computer
programs. In Chapter XII, Hofstadter mentions a wonderful problem that is well within the scope of
the control statements from JAVA.

The problem can be expressed as follows:

 Pick some positive integer and call it n.


 If n is even, divide it by two.
 If n is odd, multiply it by three and add one.
 Continue this process until n is equal to one.

On page 401 of the Vintage edition, Hofstadter illustrates this process with the following example,
starting with the number 15:

15 is odd, so I make 3n+1: 46


46 is even, so I take half: 23
23 is odd, so I make 3n+1: 70
70 is even, so I take half: 35
35 is odd, so I make 3n+1: 106
106 is even, so I take half: 53
53 is odd, so I make 3n+1: 160
160 is even, so I take half: 80
80 is even, so I take half: 40
40 is even, so I take half: 20
20 is even, so I take half: 10
10 is even, so I take half: 5
5 is odd, so I make 3n+1: 16
16 is even, so I take half: 8
8 is even, so I take half: 4
4 is even, so I take half: 2
2 is even, so I take half: 1

As you can see from this example, the numbers go up and down, but eventually—at least for all
numbers that have ever been tried—comes down to end in 1. In some respects, this process is
reminiscent of the formation of hailstones, which get carried upward by the winds over and over
again before they finally descend to the ground. Because of this analogy, this sequence of numbers
is usually called the Hailstone sequence, although it goes by many other names as well. Write a
ConsoleProgram that reads in a number from the user and then displays the Hailstone sequence for
that number, just as in Hofstadter’s book, followed by a line showing the number of steps taken to
reach 1. For example, your program should be able to produce a sample run that looks like this:

The fascinating thing about this problem is that no one has yet been able to prove that it always
stops. The number of steps in the process can certainly get very large. How many steps, for example,
does your program take when n is 27?

Video for Reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvYk_Aq-IME

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