On heights in the Collatz \(3n+1\) problem (Q1059097)

The article describes the construction of pairs of consecutive integers which reduce to 1 for the first time in the same number of iterations of the function \(T(n)=n/2\), if \(n\) is even, and \(=(3n+1)/2\) if \(n\) is odd. The number of such pairs is shown to be infinite by means of free groupoids on the vectors of the parities of the values of the initial iterations of T. Key to the construction and subsequent development is the one-to-one correspondence, due to R. Terras, between the set of the integers (mod \(2^ k\)) and the set of parity vectors of length \(k\). Questions to resolve include: do all pairs of consecutive integers with the property above (i.e. of the same height) belong to the free groupoids of the article; are there arbitrary long runs of consecutive integers with the same height; and the original Collatz problem -- for every \(n\) is there an iteration \(T^ k(n)\) equal to 1?