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Goormaghtigh conjecture

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In mathematics, the Goormaghtigh conjecture is a conjecture in number theory named for the Belgian mathematician René Goormaghtigh. The conjecture is that the only non-trivial integer solutions of the exponential Diophantine equation

x m 1 x 1 = y n 1 y 1

satisfying x > y > 1 and n, m > 2 are

  • (xymn) = (5, 2, 3, 5); and
  • (xymn) = (90, 2, 3, 13).
  • This may be expressed as saying that 31 and 8191 are the only two numbers that are repunits with at least 3 digits in two different bases.

    Balasubramanian and Shorey proved in 1980 that there are only finitely many possible solutions to the equations in (x,y,m,n) with prime divisors of x and y lying in a given finite set and that they may be effectively computed.

    References

    Goormaghtigh conjecture Wikipedia