Prime Holdout Problems

05/25/2022

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by   Max Milkert, et al.

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This paper introduces prime holdout problems, a problem class related to the Collatz conjecture. After applying a linear function, instead of removing a finite set of prime factors, a holdout problem specifies a set of primes to be retained. A proof that all positive integers converge to 1 is given for both a finite and an infinite holdout problem. It is conjectured that finite holdout problems cannot diverge for any starting value, which has implications for divergent sequences in the Collatz conjecture.