The Scott–Styer conjecture on solutions to a ternary purely exponential Diophantine equation

Let aa, bb, and cc be fixed coprime positive integers with >1>1 and let N(a,b,c)N(a,b,c) denote the number of solutions in positive integers (x,y,z)(x,y,z) to

ax+by=cz.a^x+b^y=c^z.

Assume that aa, bb, and cc are not perfect powers and that a<ba<b. Scott–Styer conjecture. Then N(a,b,c)1N(a,b,c)\leq 1, except for the explicitly listed cases:

(i) N(2,2r1,2r+1)=2N(2,2^r-1,2^r+1)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,1,1)(x,y,z)=(1,1,1) and (r+2,2,2)(r+2,2,2), where r2r\geq2;

(ii) N(2,3,11)=2N(2,3,11)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,2,1)(x,y,z)=(1,2,1) and (3,1,1)(3,1,1);

(iii) N(2,3,35)=2N(2,3,35)=2, with (x,y,z)=(3,3,1)(x,y,z)=(3,3,1) and (5,1,1)(5,1,1);

(iv) N(2,3,259)=2N(2,3,259)=2, with (x,y,z)=(4,5,1)(x,y,z)=(4,5,1) and (8,1,1)(8,1,1);

(v) N(2,5,3)=2N(2,5,3)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,2,3)(x,y,z)=(1,2,3) and (2,1,2)(2,1,2);

(vi) N(2,5,133)=2N(2,5,133)=2, with (x,y,z)=(3,3,1)(x,y,z)=(3,3,1) and (7,1,1)(7,1,1);

(vii) N(2,7,3)=2N(2,7,3)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,1,2)(x,y,z)=(1,1,2) and (5,2,4)(5,2,4);

(viii) N(2,89,91)=2N(2,89,91)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,1,1)(x,y,z)=(1,1,1) and (13,1,2)(13,1,2);

(ix) N(2,91,8283)=2N(2,91,8283)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,2,1)(x,y,z)=(1,2,1) and (13,1,1)(13,1,1);

(x) N(3,5,2)=3N(3,5,2)=3, with (x,y,z)=(1,1,3)(x,y,z)=(1,1,3), (1,3,7)(1,3,7), and (3,1,5)(3,1,5);

(xi) N(3,10,13)=2N(3,10,13)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,1,1)(x,y,z)=(1,1,1) and (7,1,3)(7,1,3);

(xii) N(3,13,2)=2N(3,13,2)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,1,4)(x,y,z)=(1,1,4) and (5,1,8)(5,1,8);

(xiii) N(3,13,2200)=2N(3,13,2200)=2, with (x,y,z)=(1,3,1)(x,y,z)=(1,3,1) and (7,1,1)(7,1,1).

Sources & referencesView supporting material

Primary source

Robert Styer, “At most one solution to a^x + b^y = c^z for some ranges of a, b, c”, arXiv:2402.04428 (2024).

Additional references

3 papers in this index state this conjecture (2018–2024). The statement above is taken from the most recent of them; the others are arXiv:2006.15952, arXiv:1808.06557.

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