Explain It Like I'm Five
Asked to 'explain it like I'm 5,' a mathematician runs the Collatz sequence starting at 5.
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Cartoon by Ben Orlin, Math with Bad Drawings. https://cartoons.mathwithbaddrawings.com/2022-01-01-explain-it-like-i-m-five/ (CC BY-NC 4.0)Transcript
[Title] "Explain It Like I'm Five"
A: "You just define a_{n+1} = a_n/2 for a_n even, and a_{n+1} = 3a_n + 1 otherwise, then let N be the smallest index such that a_N = 1." B: "I'm lost. Explain it like I'm 5." A: "Okay… 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1, so N = 6. Better?"