Quote:
Originally Posted by EdH
A number is considered finished, workwise, if it merges, but a termination is better. When looking for a new sequence for Team effort, would a number which has lots of merges be of any more interest, since, if it terminates, it will terminate all the others?
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I'm not sure if a sequence with lots of merges carries any more interest to terminate. Obviously, the answer to that question depends on whether you consider a sequence ending in a prime fundamentally different from one ending in a merge.
Quote:
Originally Posted by EdH
Would a number that has lots of merges, be any more apt to cycle?
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Yes, but of course this is only due to its "branches" meaning that there are more past values to collide with. (e.g. if a sequence is formed from 10 merges averaging a length of 100 before merging, it's like you've got another 1000 indexes to potentially merge/cycle with) I don't know how much more this would, on average, increase the chances of a cycling being discovered, but I'd say it's by a very large proportion. After all, the side sequences (probably) don't just add a few 60+ digit numbers, which are so sparsely-encountered as to practically never coincide, but they (probably) add dozens of small numbers, which are far more likely to coincide with future indexes.