Question 120
One of the biggest mathematical breakthroughs in 2019 was progress on an 82-year old problem by the renowned mathematician and Fields medalist Terence Tao.
Consider the function
$$
f(n) = \begin{cases}
\frac{n}{2} & \text{if } n \text{ is even} \\
3n + 1 & \text{if } n \text{ is odd}
\end{cases}
$$
Starting with any positive integer $n$, it was conjectured that recursive applications of the above function always lead to $1$.
While a general proof of this result still eludes the mathematical community, Tao was able to show that if there are counterexamples to this conjecture, their frequency approaches $0$ as $n$ increases. What is the surname of the German mathematician who proposed this conjecture in $1937$?
Consider the function
$$
f(n) = \begin{cases}
\frac{n}{2} & \text{if } n \text{ is even} \\
3n + 1 & \text{if } n \text{ is odd}
\end{cases}
$$
Starting with any positive integer $n$, it was conjectured that recursive applications of the above function always lead to $1$.
While a general proof of this result still eludes the mathematical community, Tao was able to show that if there are counterexamples to this conjecture, their frequency approaches $0$ as $n$ increases. What is the surname of the German mathematician who proposed this conjecture in $1937$?