The Collatz Conjecture

Consider the following operation on an arbitrary positive integer:

• If n is even -> n / 2
• If n is odd -> n * 3 + 1

Create a function to repeatedly evaluate these operations, until reaching 1. Return the number of steps it took.

See the following example, using 10 as the input, with 6 steps:

1. 10 is even - 10 / 2 = 5
2. 5 is odd - 5 * 3 + 1 = 16
3. 16 is even - 16 / 2 = 8
4. 8 is even - 8 / 2 = 4
5. 4 is even - 4 / 2 = 2
6. 2 is even - 2 / 2 = 1 -> Reached 1, so return 6

Examples

collatz(2) ➞ 1

collatz(3) ➞ 7

collatz(10) ➞ 6

Notes