Instead of using bigint, use Math::NumSeq::CollatzSteps and Google. I googled #14 and found the answer: 837799. Double-check it: 
#!/usr/bin/perl -slw

use strict;
use warnings;
use Math::NumSeq::CollatzSteps;

my $seq = Math::NumSeq::CollatzSteps->new(
          step_type => 'both'
);
my $i = 837799;
my $value = $seq->ith($i);
print $value;

[download]
Returns 524 steps.

In reply to Re: bigint == horrible performance? by Khen1950fx
in thread bigint == horrible performance? by moodywoody

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