Sums of factorials in binary recurrence sequences (Q1604981)

Let \(\{u_r\}_{r\geq 0}\) be a given nondegenerate binary linear recurrence. Let \(k\) be a fixed positive integer. Consider the equation \(u_m= \sum_{i=1}^k a_i(n_i)!\) where the \(n_i\) are arbitrary positive integers, and the \(a_i\) are integers such that \(|a_i|< A\) for all \(i\). Using the method of linear forms in logarithms of algebraic numbers, the authors prove that there is an effectively computable constant \(C\), depending on \(A\), \(k\), and \(\{u_r\}\), such that \(m<C\). In addition, the authors find the largest Fibonacci and Lucas numbers that are sums or differences of two factorials.