The length of a hailstone sequence is the number of terms it contains. For example, the hailstone sequence in example 1 (5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1) has a length of 6 and the hailstone sequence in example 2 (8, 4, 2, 1) has a length of 4. Write the method hailstoneLength(int n), which returns the length of the hailstone sequence that starts with n.

Explanation:

Hailstone sequence is a list of number that is generated by following the rules as below:

So, we can create a function called hailstoneLength that takes one input number, n, as starting number (Line 4).

In the function initialize the variable term with value of 1 (Line 5).  Create a while loop and set the condition to enable the loop running until the n become 1 (Line 6). In the loop, keep checking the n value if it is currently even or odd using modulus operator (Line 7 - 14). If it is even, divide n by 2 and increment the term by one (Line 7 - 10). If it is odd, multiple it by 3 and add 1 (Line 11 - 14). At last, return term value as output (Line 16).

In the main program, test the function by passing 8 as argument. We shall get the output of 4 (Line 21).  

the answer is you.