Related papers: On a criterion for Catalan's Conjecture

Catalan conjecture/Mihailescu theorem is a theorem in number theory that was conjectured by Mathematician Eugene Charles Catalan in 1844 and was proved completely by Preda Mihailescu in 2005. Some form of problem dates back atleast to…

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…

A conjecture of Mordell states that if $p$ is a prime and $p$ is congruent to $3$ mod $4$, then $p$ does not divide $y$ where $(x,y)$ is the fundamental solution to $x^{2}-py^{2}=1$. The conjecture has been verified for primes not exceeding…

Let $Q(x,y)$ be a quadratic form with discriminant $D\neq 0$. We obtain non trivial upper bound estimates for the number of solutions of the congruence $Q(x,y)\equiv\lambda \pmod{p}$, where $p$ is a prime and $x,y$ lie in certain intervals…

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…

Suppose that $p$ is an odd prime and $m$ is an integer not divisible by $p$. Sun and Tauraso [Adv. in Appl. Math., 45(2010), 125--148] gave $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{2k}{k+d}/m^k$ and $\sum_{k=0}^{n-1}\binom{2k}{k+d}/(km^k)$ modulo $p$ for…

We prove that if $p \equiv 4,7 \pmod{9}$ is prime and $3$ is not a cube modulo $p$, then both of the equations $x^3+y^3=p$ and $x^3+y^3=p^2$ have a solution with $x,y \in \mathbb{Q}$.

We determine a necessary and sufficient condition for the infinitude of primes $p$ such that none of the equations $a_i^x \equiv b_i \pmod{p}, 1 \le i \le n,$ are solvable. We control the insolvability of $a^x \equiv b \pmod{p}$ by power…

Let $m>2$ and $q>0$ be integers with $m$ even or $q$ odd. We show the supercongruence $$\sum_{k=0}^{p-1}(-1)^{km}\binom{p/m-q}{k}^m\equiv0\pmod{p^3}.$$ for any prime $p>mq$. This confirms a conjecture of Sun.

For a prime $p$ and an integer $a \in \Z$ we obtain nontrivial upper bounds on the number of solutions to the congruence $x^x \equiv a \pmod p$, $1 \le x \le p-1$. We use these estimates to estimate the number of solutions to the congruence…

We prove that the p-Quillen complex of a finite solvable group with cyclic derived group is Cohen-Macaulay, if p is an odd prime. If p = 2 we prove a similar conclusion, but there is a discussion to be made.

The title equation, where $p>3$ is a prime number $\not\equiv 7 \pmod 8$, $q$ is an odd prime number and $x,y,n$ are positive integers with $x,y$ relatively prime, is studied. When $p\equiv 3\pmod 8$, we prove (Theorem 2.3) that there are…

In the paper, we establish a new estimate for Kloosterman sum over primes with respect to an arbitrary modulus $q$. This estimate together with some recent results of the second author are applied to the problem of solvability of the…

We establish the solvability criteria for the equation $x^q=a$ in the field of $p$-adic numbers, for any $q$ in two cases: (i) $q$ is not divisible by $p$; (ii) $q=p$. Using these criteria we show that any $p$-adic number can be represented…

In this paper, we prove that for any odd prime $p$ and for any $p$-integer $\alpha $,we have $ \binom{\alpha p-1}{p-1}\equiv 1-\alpha (\alpha -1)(\alpha ^{2}-\alpha -1)p\sum_{k=1}^{p-1}\frac{1}{k}+\alpha ^{2} (\alpha-1)^{2}p^{2}\sum_{1\leq…

In this paper, we pose lots of challenging conjectures on congruences for the sums involving binomial coefficients and Ap\'ery-like numbers modulo $p^3$, where $p$ is an odd prime.

For a prime $p$ and an absolutely irreducible modulo $p$ polynomial $f(U,V) \in \Z[U,V]$ we obtain an asymptotic formulas for the number of solutions to the congruence $f(x,y) \equiv a \pmod p$ in positive integers $x \le X$, $y \le Y$,…

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…

A well-known conjecture asserts that there are infinitely many primes $p$ for which $p - 1$ is a perfect square. We obtain upper and lower bounds of matching order on the number of pairs of distinct primes $p,q \le x$ for which $(p - 1)(q -…