The diophantine equation \(x^ 2=4q^ n-4q+1\) (Q1262885)

The author completely solves the title equation for any given odd prime q. His method depends on factorization in a quadratic number field, and relating the solutions to the occurrences of \(\pm 1\) as values in a certain linear binary recurrence. Surprisingly, neither p-adic methods nor Gel'fond-Baker machinary are needed. When \(q=2\) the equation reduces to the well-known Ramanujan equation \(x^ 2=2^ n-7\), solved by Nagell in 1948.