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A076438 n which appear to have a unique representation as the difference of two perfect powers; that is, there is only one solution to Pillai's equation a^x - b^y = n, with a>0, b>0, x>1, y>1. 4
1, 2, 10, 29, 30, 38, 43, 46, 52, 59, 122, 126, 138, 142, 146, 150, 154, 166, 170, 173, 181, 190, 194, 214, 222, 234, 263, 270, 282, 283, 298, 317, 318, 332, 338, 342, 347, 349, 354, 361, 370, 379, 382, 383, 386, 406, 419, 428, 436, 461, 467, 479, 484, 486 (list; graph; refs; listen; history; internal format)
OFFSET

1,2

COMMENTS

This is the classic Diophantine equation of S.S. Pillai, who conjectured that there are only a finite number of solutions for each n. A generalization of Catalan's conjecture that a^x-b^y=1 has only one solution. See A076427 for the number of solutions for each n. Interestingly, the unique solutions (n,a,x,b,y) fall into two groups: (A076439) those in which x and y are even numbers, so that n is the difference of squares and (A076440) those requiring an odd power. This sequence was found by examining all perfect powers (A001597) less than 2^63-1. By examining a larger set of perfect powers, we may discover that some of these numbers do not have a unique representation.

REFERENCES

M. A. Bennett, "On some exponential equations of S.S. Pillai", Canad. J. Math. 53 (2001), 897-922.

R. K. Guy, Unsolved Problems in Number Theory, D9.

T. N. Shorey and R. Tijdeman, Exponential Diophantine Equations, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

LINKS

T. D. Noe, Unique solutions to Pillai's Equation for n<=1000

Eric Weisstein's World of Mathematics, Pillai's Conjecture

CROSSREFS

Cf. A001597, A076427, A076439, A076440.

Sequence in context: A124023 A127921 A106184 * A203551 A192976 A101561

Adjacent sequences:  A076435 A076436 A076437 * A076439 A076440 A076441

KEYWORD

hard,nonn

AUTHOR

T. D. Noe (noe(AT)sspectra.com), Oct 12 2002

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Last modified February 16 05:39 EST 2012. Contains 205860 sequences.