3.12, due on October 11

1. (Difficult) I think it was hard to understand once it started talking about the theorem on p. 103.  I think the theorem may be something about that you can represent rational numbers with fractions if you use the continued fractions method enough times?  I also didn't immediately see where some of the numbers were coming from, especially with the 12345/11111 example, or really why we were applying this method to something that is already a fraction, although I think it's related to the theorem.  I also didn't immediately follow the part about the faster method.  I should probably read more carefully, but hopefully we'll get some illumination in a lecture on the subject.
2. (Reflective) This is another one of those number theory sections on a subject that is interesting, and I'm not sure if I have seen before.  I really can't predict how this will be used in cryptography, so I am anxious to see the connection.  Not that there's anything wrong with learning continued fractions for other purposes, I just imagine there will be a cryptography application, due to the nature of the book and the class.