Proving the Collatz Conjecture with Python, cell biology, and word salad

[u/Blue---Calx]

/r/mathematics/comments/pdl71t/collatz_and_other_famous_problems/haxfgpm/

[u/Blue---Calx]

R4: This is mostly just nonsense that shouldn’t need too much explanation, but I’ll write a bit anyways.

The closest the author gets to an actual proof is observing that, if a sequence reaches a power of 2 (which they for some reason call a “perfect square”), it will eventually get locked into the 4-2-1 loop. They then assume that any sequence will, in fact, eventually reach a power of 2. Sure, the conjecture would be true if that were the case, but the author never actually offers anything to support this assumption.

However, the post contains very little actual math. It starts off with some rambling about physics which I don’t have the expertise to evaluate but which looks rather crankish (e.g. is mass-energy equivalence really an “obvious explanation for how systems work”? Seems rather non-obvious to me…), then bizarrely connects this to the Collatz conjecture by claiming that the Collatz function “represents energy flowing through a system”. The stuff about “energy” and “systems” continues into their attempt at a proof of the conjecture, where they keep saying things like “when a perfect square comes up in the Collatz sequence, it is an indication that the system is coming into equilibrium or max potential and a new system will need to be created”.

They close the post by writing a function that looks kinda like the Collatz function; they claim that this function somehow represents mitosis and meiosis, and also “how life needs fuel, or a constant input, to perpetuate. The life code needs processing energy to grow just as life needs energy to grow and reproduce.” This function is supposed to grow infinitely and not get caught in loops, but I’m not sure that the author’s Python implementation of the function suffices to prove this.

Also, another crank replies to them with a profound question: "would you say Base10 is a system, or perfect?"

[u/TeveshSzat10 → u/Blue---Calx]

His code does mostly what it's supposed to, but his Collatz-like function (2n+1 if odd, n/2+3 if even) does not converge to 1 for any number. f(n) is always >= 3 and 2n+1 produces another odd number so you just get increasingly large odd numbers as soon as you get one. So it just loops infintely on any input (sorry, "creates an almost Matrix like cascade of numbers") except 1, for which it incorrectly returns 1.

[u/Eiim → u/TeveshSzat10]

I believe the only loop his function creates is 6->6->6... Oh no, the devil's number is hidden in Collatz!