English

Catalan's conjecture is Mih\u{a}ilescu's theorem

History and Overview 2026-01-22 v1 Number Theory

Abstract

This text evolves from the lecture notes for my course on Catalan's conjecture in winter term 2025/26. The ultimate goal is to give full details of Mih\u{a}ilescu's proof. Current chapters: 1. Euler's theorem: x2y3=1x^2-y^3=1; 2. V. Lebesgue's theorem: xmy2=1x^m-y^2=1; 3. Chao Ko's theorem: x2yq=1x^2-y^q=1 with q5q\ge5; 4. Two relations of Cassels: pyp\,|\,y and qxq\,|\,x; 5. Mih\u{a}ilescu's theorem: xpyq=1x^p-y^q=1 with p>q>2p>q>2; 6. An obstruction group; 7. Super-Cassels relations: p2yp^2\,|\,y and q2xq^2\,|\,x; 8. Theorem M4: p=3,5p=3,5 or q=3,5q=3,5; A Results from mathematical anlysis; and B Results from algebra.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.14900,
  title  = {Catalan's conjecture is Mih\u{a}ilescu's theorem},
  author = {Martin Klazar},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.14900},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Currently 47 pages

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:13:56.382Z