CollatzReich

A musical exploration of the Collatz/3n+1 conjecture, inspired by Steve Reich's "Clapping Music".

Enter two starting numbers, or let Randomize choose two numbers for you.

Each number's binary representation becomes a rhythmic pattern, where 1s are claps.

As each number follows the Collatz sequence, its binary pattern evolves until reaching 1.

Credits, inspirations, and more things to check out:

Steve Reich's Clapping Music app - learn this fascinating piece

Performance of Steve Reich's "Clapping Music" by Steve Reich & Wolfram Winkel

Kevin Knight's channel about the Collatz Conjecture - 70+ videos and counting, a treasure trove.

→ Professor Knight also wrote a book on the subject [Amazon Affiliate link]

How Generative Music Works by Tero Parviainen - a great intro blogpost

The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century by Alex Ross - one of the best books I have ever read [Amazon Affiliate link]

Freesound - the clapping samples are by InspectorJ and medialint