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Class Number Conditions for the Diagonal Case of the Equation of Nagell and Ljunggren

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Part of the book series: Developments in Mathematics ((DEVM,volume 16))

Abstract

The diagonal case of the Nagell-Ljunggren equation is

$$ \frac{{x^p - 1}} {{x - 1}} = p^e \cdot y^p with x,y \in \mathbb{Z} e \in \left\{ {0,1} \right\}, $$
((1))

and p an odd prime. The only known nontrivial solution is

$$ \frac{{18^3 - 1}} {{18 - 1}} = 7^3 , $$
((2))

and it is conjectured to be also the only such solution. However, it is not even proved that (1) has only finitely many solution.

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To W. Schmidt on the occasion of his 70th birthday

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Mihăilescu, P. (2008). Class Number Conditions for the Diagonal Case of the Equation of Nagell and Ljunggren. In: Schlickewei, H.P., Schmidt, K., Tichy, R.F. (eds) Diophantine Approximation. Developments in Mathematics, vol 16. Springer, Vienna. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-211-74280-8_15

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