The Collatz conjecture (or "Syracuse problem") considers recursively-defined sequences of positive integers where n is succeeded by n/2, if n is even, or 3n/2 if n is odd. The conjecture states that for all starting values n the sequence eventually reaches the trivial cycle 1, 2, 1, 2, ... . We are interested in the existence of nontrivial cycles.

Let m be the number of local minima in such a nontrivial cycle. Simons and de Weger proved that m ≥ 76. With newer bounds on the range of starting values for which the Collatz conjecture has been checked, one gets m ≥ 83. In this paper, we prove m ≥ 92.

The last part of this paper considers what must be proven in order to raise the number of odd members a nontrivial cycle has to have to the next bound—that is, to at least K ≥ 1.375· 10¹¹. We prove that it suffices to show that, for every integer smaller than or equal to 1536 · 2⁶⁰ = 3 · 2⁶⁹, the respective Collatz sequence enters the trivial cycle. This reduces the range of numbers to be checked by nearly 60%.