English

Observations on two fourth powers whose sum is equal to the sum of two other fourth powers

History and Overview 2009-08-10 v2 Number Theory

Abstract

Translated from the Latin original, "Observationes circa bina biquadrata quorum summam in duo alia biquadrata resolvere liceat" (1772). E428 in the Enestroem index. This paper is about finding A,B,C,D such that A4+B4=C4+D4A^4+B^4=C^4+D^4. In sect. 1, Euler states his "quartic conjecture" that there do not exist any nontrivial integer solutions to A4+B4+C4=D4A^4+B^4+C^4=D^4. I do not know whether he stated this conjecture previously. In sect. 3, Euler sets A=p+q, B=p-q, C=r+s,D=r-s. Taking r=p and s=q gives the trivial solution of C=A and B=D, but this gives Euler the idea of making p and r multiples of each other and q and s multiples of each other. If k=ab this again gives the obvious solution, so in sect. 5: Perturb k to be k=ab(1+z)k=ab(1+z). Euler works out two solutions. One is A=2219449, B=-555617, C=1584749, D=2061283. Hardy and Wright, fifth ed., p. 201 give a simpler parametric solution of A4+B4=C4+D4A^4+B^4=C^4+D^4. Thomas Heath in his Diophantus, second ed., pp. 377-380 gives a faithful explanation of Euler's solution.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.math/0505629,
  title  = {Observations on two fourth powers whose sum is equal to the sum of two other fourth powers},
  author = {Leonhard Euler and Jordan Bell},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/0505629},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

6 pages; E428

R2 v1 2026-07-22T17:20:01.521Z