You lost me here: "visualize it by just looking at the even and odd steps like so: 5->10"
Where does the 10 come from?
5 is odd, so that's where the 1 comes from
8 ((5*3+1)/2) is even, so that's where the 0 comes from
4 (8/2) is the end.
alt Hacker News
5 is odd, so that's where the 1 comes from
8 ((5*3+1)/2) is even, so that's where the 0 comes from
4 (8/2) is the end.