The generalized Pillai equation \(\pm ra^x\pm sb^y=c\) (Q531838)

One important Diophantine equation is the so-called Pillai's equation \[ ra^x - sb^y =c, \] where \(a>1, b>1, c>0, r>0, s>0\) are given integers. In the paper under review, the authors consider the following generalized form of Pillai's equation \[ (-1)^u ra^x + (-1)^v sb^y =c, \] where \(u, v \in \{0, 1\}\) and \((ra, sb)=1\). They prove that this generalized Pillai's equation has at most two solutions \((x, y, u, v)\) and if the equation has more than two solutions, then \(\max\{a, b, r, s, x, y\} < 8\cdot 10^{14}\). When \(1< b < a\leq 15, c>0, 1\leq r, s \leq 100\) with \((ra, sb)=1\), they give all the solutions. Moreover, they show that the Pillai's equation \[ ra^x - sb^y =c, \] where \(a>1, b>1, c>0, r>0, s>0\) are given integers with arbitrary \(\gcd(ra, sb)\), has at most three solutions \((x, y)\) and that there are infinitely many cases in which the equation has three solutions.