UVA 100 - The 3n +1 problem solution

Problem Statement: The 3n +1 problem

Explanation

Some critical point from the problem statement:

• Determine the maximum cycle length over all numbers between and including both i and j. 
• No operation overflows a 32-bit integer.
• The integers i and j must appear in the output in the same order in which they appeared in the input

There's a possibility that j > i. So you must check it before processing further.

Optimization

Everytime you do the 3n + 1 operation, the result always an even integer. So everytime you do 3n + 1 operation you have to do n/2 operation as well. This two operation can be combined in one if statement then increment the cycle length by 2.

Source Code