Start from the singleton set S = {n}, and unless 1 is already a member of S, generate on each iteration a new set where each odd number k is replaced by 3k+1, and each even number k is replaced by 3k+1 and k/2. a(n) is the size of the set after the first iteration which has produced 1 as a member.

A290100

Start from the singleton set S = {n}, and unless 1 is already a member of S, generate on each iteration a new set where each odd number k is replaced by 3k+1, and each even number k is replaced by 3k+1 and k/2. a(n) is the size of the set after the first iteration which has produced 1 as a member.