如何避免java.lang.StackOverflowError：null？

Question

I'm trying to learn Java a bit on my own and normally I have more then enough resources with good site's like these, but now I just want to know where I'm wrong.

So the problem was phrased as :

The following iterative sequence is defined for the set of positive integers:

n → n/2 (n is even) n → 3n + 1 (n is odd)

Using the rule above and starting with 13, we generate the following sequence:

13 → 40 → 20 → 10 → 5 → 16 → 8 → 4 → 2 → 1 It can be seen that this sequence (starting at 13 and finishing at 1) contains 10 terms. Although it has not been proved yet (Collatz Problem), it is thought that all starting numbers finish at 1.

Which starting number, under one million, produces the longest chain?

NOTE: Once the chain starts the terms are allowed to go above one million.

I keep getting these java.lang.StackOverflowError, could someone help me please. My code:

import java.util.HashMap;

public class Euler
{
    HashMap<Integer,Integer> check;
    int result;

    public Euler()
    {
        check = new HashMap<Integer,Integer>();     
    }

    public int search(int number)
    {

        int startingNumber = number;

        while (check.get(number)==null && number!=1){

            if (number%2==0){
                number = number / 2;
                result = search(number);
                result++;               
            }

            else {
                number = (3*number)+1;
                result = search(number);
                result++;
            }
        }

        if (check.get(startingNumber)!=null){
            result=result+check.get(number);
            check.put(startingNumber,result);

        }
        else{
            check.put(startingNumber,result);
        }

        return result;
    }

    public int test()
    {
        int temp = 0;
        int highest=0;
        int get = 0;
        for (int i=1000001;i>1;i--){
            result = 0;
            temp = search(i);
            if(temp>highest){
                highest=temp;
                get = i;
            }
            System.out.println(i);
        }

        return get;
    }


}

EDIT:

public class Euler
{
   public Euler()
    {
    }

    public int quickSearch(int numb)
    {
        int steps = 0;
        while (numb != 1) {
            if (numb % 2 == 0) {
                numb /= 2;
            }
            else {
                numb = 3 * numb + 1;
            }
            steps++;
        }
        return steps;
    }


    public int test()
    {
        int temp = 0;
        int highest=0;
        int get = 0;
        for (int i=1;i<1000001;i=i+2){

            temp = quickSearch(i);
            if(temp>highest){
                highest=temp;
                get = i;
            }
            System.out.println(i);

        }

        return get;
    }
}

EDIT2: So in the EDIT version code, i got a freeze from the machine, but when i changed int to long, it worked perfectly, although I understand that with some Map to store values, you can find it faster. Thank you all !!

Answer 1

The problem is, that you have too many recursive calls. The best resolution for this would be to make the code iterative. Just rework your while loop to first check whether the number was found already if yes return the sum of the steps it took you to get to that number and it will take to get from that number to 1 . Otherwise just update the number for the next step, run through the loop again. Meanwhile, you just have to keep track of the steps it took you to get to a known number.

Personally, I would remove the HashMap altogether and just have a simple while loop:

int steps = 0;
while (number != 1) {
    if (number % 2 == 0) number /= 2;
    else number = 3 * number + 1
    steps++;
}

Edit: If you want to add a HashMap to store found values, you could do it like this (I assume you defined a HashMap<Long, Integer> named foundNumbers earlier):

public int search(long number) {

    int steps = 0;
    long initialNumber = number;
    while (number != 1) {
        if (number % 2 == 0) number /= 2;
        else number = 3 * number + 1
        steps++;

        if (foundNumbers.containsKey(number)) {
            steps += foundNumbers.get(number)
            foundNumbers.put(initialNumber, steps);
            return steps;
        }
    }

    foundNumbers.put(initialNumber, steps);
    return steps;

}

Answer 2

Although recursion code is easy and compact in many cases but there is possibility of stack overflow, especially if the length of recursion chain is unknown.

Your case is simple and can be easily tackled by iteration. So, try using iterative model instead of recursive model.

Answer 3

The problem is here:

public int search(int number)
{

    int startingNumber = number;

    while (check.get(number)==null && number!=1){

        if (number%2==0){
            number = number / 2;
            result = search(number);
            result++;               
        }

        else {
            number = (3*number)+1;
            result = search(number);
            result++;
        }
    }

    if (check.get(startingNumber)!=null){
        result=result+check.get(number);
        check.put(startingNumber,result);

    }
    else{
        check.put(startingNumber,result);
    }

    return result;
}

You call search(int) recursively and it cause stacking.