English

Number of solutions to $a^x+b^y=c^z$ with $\gcd(a,b)>1$

Number Theory 2024-12-25 v4

Abstract

We show that there are at most two solutions in positive integers (x,y,z)(x,y,z) to the equation ax+by=cza^x+b^y=c^z for positive integers aa, bb, and cc all greater than one, with just one exceptional case when gcd(a,b)=1\gcd(a,b)=1, and just one exceptional infinite family of cases when gcd(a,b)>1\gcd(a,b)>1 (two solutions (x1,y1,z1)(x_1,y_1,z_1) and (x2,y2,z2)(x_2,y_2,z_2) are considered the same solution if {ax1,by1}={ax2,by2}\{ a^{x_1}, b^{y_1} \} = \{ a^{x_2}, b^{y_2} \}). The case in which gcd(a,b)=1\gcd(a,b)=1 has been handled in a series of successive results by Scott and Styer, Hu and Le, and Miyazaki and Pink, who showed that there are at most two solutions, excepting ({a,b},c)=({3,5},2)(\{a,b\},c) = (\{3,5\},2), which gives three solutions. So here we treat the case gcd(a,b)>1\gcd(a,b)>1, showing that in this case there are at most two solutions, excepting (a,b,c)=(2u,2v,2w)(a,b,c) = (2^u, 2^v, 2^w) with gcd(uv,w)=1\gcd(uv,w)=1, which gives an infinite number of solutions. This generalizes work of Bennett, who proved, for both gcd(a,b)=1\gcd(a,b)=1 and gcd(a,b)>1\gcd(a,b)>1, there are at most two solutions (y,z)(y,z) to the equation a+by=cza + b^y = c^z, and conjectured there are exactly eleven (a,b,c)(a,b,c) giving two solutions to this equation (assuming bb and cc are not perfect powers). For both gcd(a,b)=1\gcd(a,b)=1 and gcd(a,b)>1\gcd(a,b)>1, there are an infinite number of (a,b,c)(a,b,c) giving two solutions (x,y,z)(x,y,z) to the title equation, which are described in detail in this and a cited previous paper. In a further result, in which we no longer say that two solutions (x1,y1,z1)(x_1,y_1,z_1) and (x2,y2,z2)(x_2,y_2,z_2) are considered the same solution if {ax1,by1}={ax2,by2}\{ a^{x_1}, b^{y_1} \} = \{ a^{x_2}, b^{y_2} \}, we list all cases with more than two solutions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2401.04197,
  title  = {Number of solutions to $a^x+b^y=c^z$ with $\gcd(a,b)>1$},
  author = {Reese Scott and Robert Styer},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2401.04197},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

Added significant material about the infinite families