Question

I need to create a function named hailstone that takes the starting integer as a parameter and returns how many steps it takes to reach 1. You will stop when you reach the first one. If the starting integer is 1, the return value should be 0. The function should just return the value not display it. You CANNOT use recursion. C++

Answer 1

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int hailstone(int num) {
    int count = 0;
    while (num != 1) {
        if (num % 2 == 0)
            num /= 2;
        else
            num = 3 * num + 1;
        count++;
    }
    return count;
}

int main() {
    int num;
    cout << "Enter a number: ";
    cin >> num;
    cout << "Number of steps = " << hailstone(num) << endl;
    return 0;
}