Hailstone Sequence Length
Function Name: hailstoneSequenceLength
Description
In mathematics, the hailstone sequence (or Collatz sequence) is generated by the following process: begin with any positive integer n. Then each term is obtained from the previous term as follows: if the previous term is even, the next term is one half the previous term. If the previous term is odd, the next term is 3 times the previous term plus 1. The sequence will eventually reach the number 1, regardless of which positive integer is chosen initially. Your task is to create a function that computes the length of the hailstone sequence starting with a given positive integer.
Requirements
- The function should take a single integer parameter greater than 0.
- If the input is not a positive integer, the function should return null or an appropriate error depending on the language used.
- The function must iterate through the hailstone sequence and return the length of the sequence including the initial number and 1.
- Avoid recursion due to possible stack overflow for large input values.
- Optimize the function for readability and efficiency.
Examples
If the function is called with 6, the hailstone sequence is: 6, 3, 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1. The function should return 9, since there are 9 terms in the sequence.If the function is called with 11, the sequence is: 11, 34, 17, 52, 26, 13, 40, 20, 10, 5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1. The function should return 15.
Links
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