A note on Catalan's equation
type: Item
instance of: scholarly article
title: A note on Catalan's equation
zbMATH Open document ID: 0601.10013
DOI: 10.1016/0022-314X(86)90106-X
author: Paulo Ribenboim
published in: Journal of Number Theory
publication date: 1986-01-01T00:00:00Z
review text: The author gives a combinatorial tool to get density estimates in number theory. The result should be summarized as follows: Let \(Z(m,n)\) \((m,n\in\mathbb N)\) be a sequence of sets with \(Z(m,n)\supseteq Z(um,vn)\) for \(u,v\in\mathbb N\). For \(N\in \mathbb N\) define \[ D_ N=\{(m,n)\mid 1\leq m,n\leq N\;\text{and}\;Z(m,n)=\emptyset \}. \] Proposition: If there exists a constant \(C\) such that (1) \(Z(m,n)\) is finite (or void) for \(m,n\geq C\); (2) for \(m,n\geq C\) there exists \(h=h_{(m,n)}\geq 1\) such that \(Z(um,vn)=\emptyset\) if \(u,v\geq h\). Then \[ \lim_{N\to \infty}(\#D_ N/N^ 2)=1. \] The author applies his result to the number \(Z(m,n)\) of non-trivial integer solutions \((x,y)\) of the Catalan-Pillai equation \[ aX^ m-b Y^ n=k,\quad a,b,k\in\mathbb Z\setminus\{0\},\tag{*} \] proving (1) by use of Siegel's theorem and (2) by \textit{M. Filaseta}'s ``trick'' [see C. R. Math. Acad. Sci., Soc. R. Can. 6, 31--32 (1984; Zbl 0533.10010)].
reviewed by: Bernd Richter
Mathematics Subject Classification ID: 11D61
zbMATH DE Number: 3968671
zbMATH Keywords: density estimates
zbMATH Keywords: Catalan-Pillai equation
MaRDI profile type: MaRDI publication profile
cites work: Q3679266
cites work: Fermat's Last Theorem for “Almost All” Exponents
cites work: Q3677814
cites work: Q4774097
full work available at URL: 0022-314x(86)90106-x
OpenAlex ID: W2060644017
description: scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3968671