Modular Arithmetic in RSA
For part a) of your question: In this case 2 would be the order of 187 in the multiplicative group modulo 1457. This means you could retrieve the factors of 1457 using the formula gcd($187^{2/2}-1$, 1457) and gcd($187^{2/2}+1$, 1457). 

Having the factors of 1457, you can compute $\phi$ with ease.

@fgrieu: The calculation is taken from the non-quantum part of Shor's Algorithm. Basically it's the same as what you mentioned in the comments of the question. Thanks for pointing out my mistake. I mixed up some numbers in my gcd calculation...