Java Programming

The Collatz Conjecture is a conjecture that states that for any positive integer, if you repeat the following over and over again:

if the n is even, divide it in half

else, multiply it by 3 and then add 1. Then eventually, you will arrive at the number 1.

This method should return the number of steps that it takes to get from the specified number to 1.

For example, if startingNumber were 7, then the Collatz conjecture process would be:

7 -> 22 -> 11 -> 34 -> 17 -> 52 -> 26 -> 13 -> 40 -> 20 -> 10 -> 5 -> 16 -> 8 -> 4 -> 2 -> 1.

The number of steps in the sequence was 17, so getNumColltzSteps(7) should return 17.

@param startingNumber the number at the first step in the Collatz conjecture process

@return the number of operations in the Collatz conjecture that were needed to get to 1.