Problem of the Day 1-10-07

Not much response to Tue problem, so I guess it wasn't too exciting. Those who are familiar with Euler's totient function, phi, could have approached it like this:
phi(144) = phi(2^4) x phi(3^2) = (16-8)(9-3) = 48.

Wed problem (posting early) is all about Algebra 2 (rational expressions) and an interesting connection to Myrtle's post the other day. I typed it in word using eqn editor, saved it as a png and inserted it but the size and quality are difficult to tweak. I'm still learning! Despite fuzziness you should be able to read it. Try clicking on the image - it might appear in magnified form. On the surface it's just a mechanical computation but it has an interesting application to Egyptian fractions. Try it for other odd denominators!