thekeele's solution to Collatz Conjecture on the Elixir track

Instructions

Test suite

Solution

The Collatz Conjecture or 3x+1 problem can be summarized as follows:

Take any positive integer n. If n is even, divide n by 2 to get n / 2. If n is odd, multiply n by 3 and add 1 to get 3n + 1. Repeat the process indefinitely. The conjecture states that no matter which number you start with, you will always reach 1 eventually.

Given a number n, return the number of steps required to reach 1.

Examples

Starting with n = 12, the steps would be as follows:

Resulting in 9 steps. So for input n = 12, the return value would be 9.

Running tests

Execute the tests with:

$ mix test

Pending tests

In the test suites, all but the first test have been skipped.

Once you get a test passing, you can unskip the next one by commenting out the relevant @tag :pending with a # symbol.

For example:

# @tag :pending
test "shouting" do
  assert Bob.hey("WATCH OUT!") == "Whoa, chill out!"
end

Or, you can enable all the tests by commenting out the ExUnit.configure line in the test suite.

# ExUnit.configure exclude: :pending, trace: true

If you're stuck on something, it may help to look at some of the available resources out there where answers might be found.

Source

An unsolved problem in mathematics named after mathematician Lothar Collatz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3x_%2B_1_problem

Submitting Incomplete Solutions

It's possible to submit an incomplete solution so you can see how others have completed the exercise.

collatz_conjecture_test.exs

defmodule CollatzConjectureTest do
  use ExUnit.Case

  test "zero steps for one" do
    assert CollatzConjecture.calc(1) == 0
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "zero is an error" do
    assert_raise FunctionClauseError, fn -> CollatzConjecture.calc(0) end
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "divide if even" do
    assert CollatzConjecture.calc(16) == 4
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "even and odd steps" do
    assert CollatzConjecture.calc(12) == 9
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "Large number of even and odd steps" do
    assert CollatzConjecture.calc(1_000_000) == 152
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "start with odd step" do
    assert CollatzConjecture.calc(21) == 7
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "more steps than starting number" do
    assert CollatzConjecture.calc(7) == 16
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "negative value is an error " do
    assert_raise FunctionClauseError, fn -> CollatzConjecture.calc(-15) end
  end

  @tag :pending
  test "string as input value is an error " do
    assert_raise FunctionClauseError, fn -> CollatzConjecture.calc("fubar") end
  end
end

test_helper.exs

ExUnit.start()
ExUnit.configure(exclude: :pending, trace: true)

defmodule CollatzConjecture do
  defguard is_even(value) when is_integer(value) and value > 0 and rem(value, 2) === 0
  defguard is_odd(value) when is_integer(value) and value > 0 and rem(value, 2) != 0

  @spec calc(input :: pos_integer()) :: non_neg_integer()
  def calc(1), do: 0
  def calc(num) when is_even(num), do: 1 + calc(div(num, 2))
  def calc(num) when is_odd(num), do: 1 + calc(num * 3 + 1)
  def calc(_), do: raise FunctionClauseError
end

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thekeele's solution

to Collatz Conjecture in the Elixir Track