Collatz conjecture revisited: an elementary generalization (Q2219832)

Let \(\mathbb{N}\) be the set of all positive integers. Let \(n \in \mathbb{N}\), define: \[ f(n) = \begin{cases} 3n+1 &\text{if \(n\) is odd}\\ \frac{n}{2}&\text{if \(n\) is even} \end{cases} \qquad\text{and }f^0(n) = n,\ f^k(n) = f (f^{k-1}) (n),\ k \in \mathbb{N}. \] The famous \(3n+1\) conjecture asserts that for any \(n \in \mathbb{N}\) there exists \(i \in \mathbb{N}\) satisfying \(f^i(n) = 1\). A thorough summary of numerous results concerning the conjecture is given in [\textit{J. C. Lagarias}, Am. Math. Mon. 92, 3--23 (1985; Zbl 0566.10007)]. See also a book edited by \textit{J. C. Lagarias} (ed.) [The ultimate challenge. The \(3x+1\) problem. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (2010; Zbl 1253.11003)]. A related recent work can also be found in the paper of M. Schwob, the reviewer, and R. Venkat [\textit{M. R. Schwob} et al., Int. J. Math. Math. Sci. 2021, Article ID 5754439, 10 p. (2021; Zbl 1486.11040)]. The author of this paper under review studies a generalization of the \(3n+1\) problem. The generalization are of some interest and some of the results are appealing.