Eldar Sultanow, Denis Volkov, Sean Cox, Introducing a Finite State Machine for Processing Collatz Sequences, IJPMS Volume 19, International Journal of Pure Mathematical Sciences (Volume 19)
https://www.scipress.com/IJPMS.19.10
Abstract:
    The present work will introduce a Finite State Machine (FSM) that processes any Collatz Sequence; further, we will endeavor to investigate its behavior in relationship to transformations of a special infinite input. Moreover, we will prove that the machine’s word transformation is equivalent to the standard Collatz number transformation and then discuss the possibilities for utilizing this approach for solving similar problems. The benefit of this approach is that the investigation of the word transformation performed by the Finite State Machine is less complicated than the traditional number-theoretical transformation.
Keywords:
    Collatz Conjecture, Double Colored Edges, Graph, State Machine