FRACTRAN for natural numbers

Question

Is there a simple analogue of FRACTRAN that maps a natural number to a natural number, instead of mapping a list of fractions to a natural number?

One could use Gödel encoding to translate FRACTRAN directly to natural numbers only, but such a construction would probably be contrived. Is there a more elegant alternative?

I think a generalization of the Collatz function might be a candidate, but what is the simplest example of such a function that is Turing-complete?

For example, it is undecideable whether functions of the form

$$g(n)=a_in+b_i\qquad n\equiv i \pmod P$$

reach the number 1, for all $g$ and $n$, when iterated repeatedly.

Answer 1

Maybe this curiosity qualifies? ...

The following three functions (which map naturals to naturals) form a "complete basis" for universal computation: $$\begin{align} f_0(n) & = n + [n>0][n\ \text{even}]\ 2^{|n|_2} \\ f_1(n) & = n + [n>0][n\ \text{even}]\ 2^{|n|_2 + 1}\\ f_2(n) & = [n>0] \left\lfloor\frac{n-1}{2}\right\rfloor \end{align}$$

where $[...]$ are Iverson brackets and $|n|_2 = \lfloor\log_2(n+1)\rfloor$ is the number of digits in the bijective base-2 representation of $n$. (Note that $f_0, f_1$ are non-decreasing and $f_2$ is non-increasing, while $0$ is a fixpoint for all three functions.)

This is computationally universal because any Turing machine can be simulated by iterating some finite composition $F$ of instances of these three functions with some initial value of $n$. The iterates $F^k(n)$ simulate the evolution of the machine's configuration, eventually reaching $0$ iff the machine eventually halts.

It is undecidable whether the iterates $F^k(2)$ of an arbitrary composition eventually reach $0$.

NB: Any composition $F$ that simulates a universal Turing machine (and there will be infinitely many of these) serves as a single-function basis for universal computation (cf single-combinator bases for lambda terms).

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Here is the original binary string version, in which all functions map $\tt\{0,1\}^* \to \{0,1\}^*$: $$\begin{align} g_0(s) & = \text{if }s \text{ begins with }\mathtt{1}\text{ then append } \mathtt{0}\text{ to }s\\ g_1(s) & = \text{if }s \text{ begins with }\mathtt{1}\text{ then append } \mathtt{1}\text{ to }s\\ g_2(s) & = \text{if }s \text{ is not empty then delete the beginning element of } s \end{align}$$

Now any Turing machine can be simulated by some finite composition $G$ of instances of these three functions, such that the iterates $G^k(n)$ simulate the evolution of the machine's configuration, eventually reaching $\epsilon$ (the empty string) iff the machine eventually halts.

It is undecidable whether the iterates $G^k(\mathtt{1})$ of an arbitrary composition eventually reach $\epsilon$.