####################################### ## A Tree of All Fractions ## ####################################### We form a tree with fractions at the vertices as follows. Let 1/1 be the root vertex. At each vertex m/n, form two branches to vertices m/(m+n) and (m+n)/n. m - n / \ / \ m m + n ----- ----- m + n n The beginning of the tree looks like this. 1 - 1 / \ / \ 1 2 - - 2 1 / \ / \ / \ / \ 1 3 2 3 - - - - 3 2 3 1 Puzzle: Prove that every reduced positive rational number appears exactly once in this tree. Comment: This is only one variation of many similar binary trees of fractions. An elegant elementary exposition with a solution to this problem and others is in the following reference. Neil Calkin and Herbert S. Wilf, "Recounting the Rationals," American Mathematical Monthly, Vol. 107 No. 4 April 2000, p360.