Related papers: Catalan's Conjecture over Number Fields
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: $x^2-y^3=1$; 2. V. Lebesgue's…
We give a new proof of a theorem by P. Mihailescu which states that the equation $x^p-y^q=1$ is unsolvable with $x, y$ integral and $p, q$ odd primes, unless the congruences $p^q \equiv p\pmod{q^2}$ and $q^p\equiv q \pmod{p^2}$ hold.
Catalan's conjecture claims that the Diophantine equation $x^p-y^q=1$ admits the unique solution $3^2-2^3=1$ in integers $x,y,p,q \ge 2$. The conjecture has been finally proved by P. Mih\u{a}ilescu (2002) using the theory of cyclotomic…
We prove two conjectures on sums of products of Catalan triangle numbers, which were originally conjectured by Miana, Ohtsuka, and Romero [Discrete Math. 340 (2017), 2388--2397]. The first one is proved by using Zeilberger's algorithm, and…
Ce texte est une d\'emontration compl\`ete de la conjecture de Catalan \'elabor\' ee \`a la suite d'un s\'eminaire fait \`a Lausanne entre 2002 et 2004, juste apr\`es l'annonce de la merveilleuse preuve de Preda Mihailescu
Let $\ell$ be a prime number, $F$ be a global function field of characteristic $\ell$. Assume that there is a prime $P_\infty$ of degree $1$. Let $\mathcal{O}_F$ be the ring of functions in $F$ with no poles outside of $\{P_\infty\}$. We…
Let $K = \mathbb{F}_p(z_1, \ldots, z_r)$ be a finitely generated field over $\mathbb{F}_p$. In this article we study the generalized Catalan equation $ax^m + by^n = 1$ in $x, y \in K$ and integers $m, n > 1$ coprime with $p$. Our main…
This article lists all the solution of the Catalan equation $x^p-y^q=1$ for $x,y \in \mathbb{Z}[i]$, when one of the primes $p and q$ is even.
We consider the Catalan equation $x^p - y^q = 1$ in unknowns $x, y, p, q$, where $x, y$ are taken from an integral domain $A$ of characteristic $0$ that is finitely generated as a $\mathbb{Z}$-algebra and $p, q > 1$ are integers. We give…
The ternary Goldbach conjecture, or three-primes problem, states that every odd number $n$ greater than $5$ can be written as the sum of three primes. The conjecture, posed in 1742, remained unsolved until now, in spite of great progress in…
For each pair of coprime integers $a$ and $b$ we have a rational $q$-Catalan number $\operatorname{Cat}(a,b)_q=\binom{a+b}{a}_q/[a+b]_q$. It is known that this is a polynomial in $q$ with nonnegative integer coefficients, but the nature of…
During the study of dual sequences, Sun introduced the polynomials \[ D_n(x,y)=\sum_{k=0}^{n}{n\choose k}{x\choose k}y^k\text{ and } S_n(x,y)=\sum_{k=0}^{n}\binom{n}{k}\binom{x}{k}\binom{-1-x}{k} y^k. \] Many related congruences have been…
The $p$-adic Littlewood Conjecture due to De Mathan and Teuli\'e asserts that for any prime number $p$ and any real number $\alpha$, the equation $$\inf_{|m|\ge 1} |m|\cdot |m|_p\cdot |\langle m\alpha \rangle|\, =\, 0 $$ holds. Here, $|m|$…
A conjecture of Manin predicts the distribution of K-rational points on certain algebraic varieties defined over a number field K. In recent years, a method using universal torsors has been successfully applied to several hard special cases…
We show that recent determinant evaluations involving Catalan numbers and generalisations thereof have most convenient explanations by combining the Lindstr\"om-Gessel-Viennot theorem on non-intersecting lattice paths with a simple…
The Collatz conjecture (or ``Syracuse problem'') considers recursively-defined sequences of positive integers where $n$ is succeeded by $\tfrac{n}{2}$, if $n$ is even, or $\tfrac{3n+1}{2}$, if $n$ is odd. The conjecture states that for all…
The Catalan numbers (C_n)_{n >= 0} = 1,1,2,5,14,42,... form one of the most venerable sequences in combinatorics. They have many combinatorial interpretations, from counting bracketings of products in non-associative algebra to counting…
The \textit{Collatz's conjecture} is an unsolved problem in mathematics. It is named after Lothar Collatz in 1973. The conjecture also known as Syrucuse conjecture or problem. Take any positive integer $ n $. If $ n $ is even then divide it…
In 1930s Paul Erdos conjectured that for any positive integer C in any infinite +1 -1 sequence (x_n) there exists a subsequence x_d, x_{2d}, ... , x_{kd} for some positive integers k and d, such that |x_d + x_{2d} + ... + x_{kd}|> C. The…
A well-known conjecture of Orlov asks whether the existence of a full exceptional collection implies rationality of the underlying variety. We prove this conjecture for arithmetic toric varieties over general fields. We also investigate a…