Good starter for a mathematics lesson involving playing with the hailstone problem or the Collatz Conjecture.

1. THE HAILSTONE PROBLEM
THE COLLATZ CONJECTURE

2. The Hailstone Problem
Think of a number, if it’s even halve it. If it’s odd,
triple it and then add 1. Keep repeating this
algorithm.
Complete this algorithm starting with 5 numbers
and be brave. You will know when to stop…

3. The Hailstone Problem
The conjecture is that no matter what number you
start with, you will always eventually reach 1.
It has not been proven that you will always end up
at 1 and the great mathematician Paul Erdos said
“Mathematics may not be ready for such
problems.” He also offered $500 for its solution.
It has been tested to work for every number up to…
Wait for it…

4. Lothar Collatz
July 6, 1910 – September 26, 1990
5,764,000,000,000,000,000.

5. The Hailstone Problem
An interesting thing to note about the hailstone
problem is that starting with two similar
numbers can result in very different hailstone
lists.
Try the algorithm for 26, 27 and 28.