Sunday, April 17, 2016

[csclnykm] Beans Don't Talk

By Conway, based on Beanstalk by Isbell, is an elegant game.  Two moves: 3n+1 and 3n-1, then automatically dividing by 2 until it is odd.  Getting to 1 wins.  The major open question is whether there are starting numbers from which neither player can force a win.

How far out has it been verified?  What is the longest known win?  What are some strategies that don't involve a giant look up table?  Probably factorization.

Reminiscent of Collatz conjecture.

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