Common terms of Leonardo and Jacobsthal numbers (Q6144968)

As a particular case of the Lucas sequences of the first kind, the sequence of Jacobsthal numbers \( \{J_m\}_{m\ge 0} \) is defined by the linear recurrence relation: \( J_0=0 \), \( J_1=1 \), and \( J_{m}=J_{m-1}+2J_{m-2} \) for all \( m\ge 2 \). Furthermore, the sequence of Leonardo numbers \( \{Le_n\}_{n\ge 0} \) is defined by the recurrence relation: \( Le_0=Le_1=1 \) and \( Le_n=Le_{n-1}+Le_{n-2}+1 \) for all \( n\ge 2 \). In the paper under review, the authors investigate the common terms between the Leonardo and Jacobsthal sequences. In other words, they study the Diophantine equation, \[ Le_n=J_m.\tag{1} \] Their main result is the following. Theorem 1. All solutions of the Diophantine equation (1) in non-negative integers \( (n,m) \) with \( n\ge 2 \) and \( m\ge 2 \) are given by \( (n,m)\in \{(2,3), (3,4)\} \). To prove Theorem 1 the authors use a clever combination of techniques in Diophantine number theory, the usual properties of the Jacobsthal and Leonardo sequences, Baker's theory of non-zero lower bounds for linear forms in logarithms of algebraic numbers, and reduction techniques involving the theory of continued fractions. All numerical computations are done with the aid of simple computer programs in \texttt{Mathematica}.