On the exponential Diophantine equation \(F_n^x+F_{n+1}^x+\cdots+F_{n+k-1}^x=F_m\) (Q2154784)

Let \((F_n)_{n\ge 0}\) be the \textit{Fibonacci sequence} defined by the linear recurrence: \[ F_0=0, ~F_1=1, \text{ and }F_n=F_{n-1}+F_{n-2}, \text{ for }n\ge 2. \] In the paper under review, the authors completely study the Diophantine equation: \[ F_n^{x}+F_{n+1}^{x}+\cdots+F_{n+k-1}^{x}=F_m,\tag{1} \] in positive integers \((n,m,k,x)\). The authors first classify the possible trivial solutions to (1) as follows: solutions with \((x,k)=(1,2)\), namely \(m=n+2\) for any \(n\ge 1\); solutions with \((x,k)=(2,2)\), namely \(m=2n+1\) for \(n\ge 0\); solutions with \((x,k)=(1,1)\), namely \(m=n\); and solutions with \((k,n,m)=(2,1,3)\) for any \(x\). Next, the authors prove the following theorem, which is the main result in this paper. Theorem 1. The only nontrivial solution of the Diophantine equation (1) in positive integers \((n,m,k,x)\) is \((n,m,k,x)=(6,3,1,3)\). The proof Theorem 1 follows from a clever combination of techniques in Diophantine number theory, the usual properties of the Fibonacci sequence, Baker's theory of nonzero linear forms in logarithms of algebraic numbers, as well as reduction techniques involving the theory of continued fractions. All computations can be done with the aid of a computer program in \texttt{Mathematica}.