Music in the Numbers

The Collatz Conjecture, aka the 3n+1 conjecture.

Music in the Numbers

There is music in the numbers,
Strange and beautiful to behold,
By people strange and beautiful as well,
Whose stories are oft not told.

Collatz is one
Whose conjecture seems true
But yet unproved
For a century or two

Choose any integer,
If even, divide by two,
Else multiply by 3 and then take the next,
Repeat until reduced to unity,
Its trajectory is at rest.

Why this is so,
No one yet knows,
But the rhythms produced,
As its trajectory flows,
Reveals the music in the numbers,
The mystery still grows.

(The Collatz sequence for the number 17:
17,52,26,13,40,20,10,5,16,8,4,2,1)