This post comes from the suggestion of [Joel Moreira][1] in a [comment](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/377706/an-alternative-to-continued-fraction-and-applications#comment958452_377706) on https://mathoverflow.net/q/377706/34538 (itself inspired by the Numberphile video [2.920050977316][2] and [Fridman, Garbulsky, Glecer, Grime, and Tron Florentin - A prime-representing constant][3]). Let $u_0 \ge 2$ be a rational, and $u_{n+1}=⌊u_n⌋(u_n - ⌊u_n⌋ + 1)$. **Question**: Does the sequence $(u_n)$ reach an integer? *Remark*: It is true for $u_0=\frac{p}{q}$ with $p \le 25000$ (see Appendix). For $u_0=\frac{11}{5}$, then $$(u_n)= (\frac{11}{5}, \frac{12}{5}, \frac{14}{5}, \frac{18}{5}, \frac{24}{5}, \frac{36}{5}, \frac{42}{5}, \frac{56}{5}, \frac{66}{5}, \frac{78}{5}, 24, \dots).$$ Here is a picture of the dynamic: [![enter image description here][4]][4] The general proof could be non-easy, by regarding for example when $u_0=\frac{15}{7}$: $$(7u_n) = (15, 16, 18, 22, 24, 30, 36, 40, 60, 88, 132, 234, 330, 376, 636, 1170, 1336, 2470, 4576, 7836, 11190, 17578, 20088, 34428, 44262, 50584, 65034, 102190, 160578, 7 \cdot 39324, \dots)$$ For $u_0=\frac{5789}{2837}$, the sequence $(u_n)$ reaches an integer at $n=27786$. Below is the picture of $\frac{u_{n+1}}{u_n}$ from $n=0$ to $27786$, which looks completely random. [![enter image description here][5]][5] ___ **Appendix** In the following list the datum $[r,(p,q)]$ means that the sequence $(u_n)$, with $u_0=\frac{p}{q}$, reaches an integer at $n=r$. The list provides the ones with the longest $r$ according the lexicographic order of $(p,q)$. *Computation* sage: search(25001) [1, (2, 1)] [2, (5, 2)] [3, (7, 2)] [4, (7, 3)] [11, (11, 5)] [30, (15, 7)] [31, (29, 14)] [45, (37, 17)] [53, (39, 17)] [124, (41, 19)] [167, (59, 29)] [168, (117, 58)] [358, (123, 53)] [380, (183, 89)] [381, (201, 89)] [530, (209, 97)] [532, (221, 97)] [622, (285, 131)] [624, (295, 131)] [921, (359, 167)] [1233, (383, 181)] [1365, (517, 251)] [1482, (541, 269)] [2532, (583, 263)] [3121, (805, 389)] [3586, (1197, 587)] [3608, (1237, 607)] [3860, (1263, 617)] [4160, (1425, 643)] [6056, (1487, 743)] [9658, (1875, 859)] [9662, (1933, 859)] [10467, (2519, 1213)] [10534, (2805, 1289)] [11843, (2927, 1423)] [12563, (3169, 1583)] [13523, (3535, 1637)] [14004, (3771, 1871)] [14461, (4147, 2011)] [17485, (4227, 1709)] [18193, (4641, 1987)] [18978, (4711, 2347)] [22680, (5193, 2377)] [23742, (5415, 2707)] [24582, (5711, 2663)] [27786, (5789, 2837)] [27869, (6275, 2969)] [29168, (6523, 3229)] [32485, (6753, 2917)] [33819, (7203, 3361)] [41710, (7801, 3719)] [49402, (8357, 3863)] [58254, (10307, 4513)] [58700, (10957, 4943)] [81773, (12159, 5659)] [85815, (16335, 7963)] [91298, (16543, 7517)] [91300, (17179, 7517)] [98102, (19133, 9437)] [100315, (19587, 8893)] [100319, (20037, 8893)] [102230, (20091, 9749)] [102707, (21289, 10267)] [103894, (21511, 10151)] [105508, (22439, 11149)] [107715, (22565, 10729)] [142580, (23049, 11257)] [154265, (24915, 12007)] *Code* def Seq(p,q): x=Rational(p/q) A=[floor(x)] while not floor(x)==x: n=floor(x) x=Rational(n*(x-n+1)) m=floor(x) A.append(m) return A def search(r): m=0 for p in range(2,r): for q in range(1,floor(p/2)+1): A=Seq(p,q) l=len(A) if l>m: m=l print([m,(p,q)]) [1]: https://mathoverflow.net/users/18698/joel-moreira [2]: https://youtu.be/_gCKX6VMvmU [3]: https://doi.org/10.1080/00029890.2019.1530554 [4]: https://i.sstatic.net/viHif.png [5]: https://i.sstatic.net/lM3IE.png