Questions tagged [diophantine-equations]
Diophantine equations are polynomial equations $F=0$, or systems of polynomial equations $F_1=\ldots=F_k=0$, where $F,F_1,\ldots,F_k$ are polynomials in either $\mathbb{Z}[X_1,\ldots,X_n]$ of $\mathbb{Q}[X_1,\ldots,X_n]$ of which it is asked to find solutions over $\mathbb{Z}$ or $\mathbb{Q}$. Topics: Pell equations, quadratic forms, elliptic curves, abelian varieties, hyperelliptic curves, Thue equations, normic forms, K3 surfaces ...
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questions with no upvoted or accepted answers
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Can a number be palindromic in more than 3 consecutive number bases?
$2017:$ Was initially asked on MSE - but wasn't solved or updated there since.
Update $2019$: I've returned to this problem, made some progress and updated the post here. (I've basically rewritten ...
18
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660
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The lonely molecule
Suppose $n$ air molecules (infinitesimal points) are bouncing around in
a unit $d$-dimensional cube, with perfectly elastic wall collisions.
Let $k=n^{\frac{1}{d}}$.
For example, in 3D, $d=3$, with $n=...
17
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0
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988
views
Is the set of integers of the form $a/(b+c)+b/(a+c)+c/(a+b)$ computable?
The starting point of this question is the observation that the smallest positive integers $a,b,c$ satisfying
$$\frac{a}{b+c} + \frac{b}{a+c} + \frac{c}{a+b} = 4$$
are absurdly high, namely $$(...
15
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614
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Does every integer $n>1$ have the form $a^2+b^2+3^c+5^d$ with $a,b,c,d$ nonnegative integers?
Lagrange's four-square theorem states that every nonnegative integer is the sum of four squares. I have tried to replace two of the four squares by two powers. This leads to my following question: ...
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Effective proofs of Siegel's theorem using arithmetic geometry
This is a speculation and perhaps naive. The theorem of Siegel that
There exist only finitely many integral points on a curve of genus $\geq 1$ over a number ring $\mathcal O_{K, S}$ where $S$ is a ...
12
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698
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Why are solutions to $\sqrt[k]{x_1^k+x_2^k+x_3^k+x_4^k}$ for $k=2,3$ curiously smooth?
Given an integer solution $s_m$ to the system,
$$x_1^2+x_2^2+\dots+x_n^2 = y^2$$
$$x_1^3+x_2^3+\dots+x_n^3 = z^3$$
and define the function,
$$F(s_m) = x_1+x_2+\dots+x_n$$
For $n\geq3$, using an ...
11
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0
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362
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Is it true that $\{x^4+y^3+z^2:\ x,y,z\in\mathbb Q_{\ge0}\}=\mathbb Q_{\ge0}$?
Let $\mathbb Q_{\ge0}$ be the set of all nonnegative rational numbers. I have the following conjecture based on my computation.
4-3-2 Conjecture. Each $r\in\mathbb Q_{\ge0}$ can be written as $x^4+y^3+...
11
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Consecutive averages of sequence (or difference quotients of partial sums) always square
I proposed the following problem for the December 2013 USA IMO TST earlier this month:
Let $a_1,a_2,a_3,\ldots$ be a sequence of integers, with the property that every consecutive group of $a_i$'s ...
11
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Growth of $n=n(k)$ for which there's a non-trivial solution to $x_1^k+\cdots+x_n^k=y^k$?
Walter Hayman just asked me the following question. What, if anything, is known about the growth of the function $n(k)$, where $k\geq1$ is an integer, and $n=n(k)\geq2$ is the smallest integer for ...
10
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261
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$y^3=x^4+x+1$, and rational points on rank 2 Picard curves
What are (a) integer, (b) rational solutions to the equation
$$
y^3 = x^4 + x + 1 ?
$$
There are obvious solutions $(x,y)=(-1,1)$ and $(0,1)$, are they the only ones?
Context: There are a lot of ...
10
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0
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Are the nonnegative rationals diophantine with only two quantifiers?
Definition: A subset $D\subseteq \mathbb{Q}$ is diophantine if it is the projection of the zero set of a polynomial, i.e. there exists a polynomial $f\in\mathbb{Q}[X,Y_1,\dots,Y_n]$ for some $n$ such ...
10
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Does the diophantine equation $\,\prod_{k=1}^n(p_k^{x_k}-1)=y^2\,$ have always at least a solution for $\,n\gt2\,$?
P.G.Walsh proved in this paper that the diophantine equation $\,(2^{x_1}-1)(3^{x_2}-1)=y^2\,$ has no solution in positive integers $\,x_1$, $\,x_2\,$ and $\,y$.
If we generalize the previous equation ...
10
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Integral points on elliptic curve and the Lee norm
This question is based on small experiments I have done in Sagemath and if it is not research level, I will move it to MSE:
Let $E$ be an elliptic curve defined with coefficients in $\mathbb{Z}$.
The ...
10
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0
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414
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Is every integer a difference of two powers?
True or false? (I don't know.) Every positive integer is the difference of two powers. Examples:
$ 1 = 3^2 - 2^3 $
$ 2 = 3^3 - 5^2 $
$ 3 = 2^7-5^3 $
$ 4 = 2^3-2^2 = 5^3-11^2 $
$ 5 = 2^5 - 3^3 $
...
10
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0
answers
215
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Product of four consecutive primes plus $1$ equals square
Some days ago, I noticed that $3\cdot 5\cdot 7\cdot 11 +1=34^2$.
I am almost sure that if we denote four consecutive primes by $p, q, r, s$ then the equation
$$p\cdot q\cdot r\cdot s+1=x^2 \quad ...
9
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544
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Iterating Diophantine equations over Q to quickly get a large interval with just integer solutions
Hilbert's Tenth Problem was whether there is an algorithm which will answer whether any Diophantine equation has solutions (where we want integer solutions). Hilbert's Tenth has a negative solution by ...
9
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308
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Cohn's eight diophantine equations
Today I was reading J.H.E. Cohn's Eight diophantine equations (1966). On p. 158
he comes across the equation $y^2 = a^3 + 3a$ for odd values of $a$ and writes that this is equivalent to $x^3 + (x+1)^3 ...
8
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0
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232
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Hilbert 10th problem for genus 2 equations
Hilbert 10th problem, while undecidable in general, remains open for 2-variable equations: we do not know if there is an algorithm that, for polynomial $P(x,y)$ with integer coefficients, decides ...
8
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265
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Restricted divisor summatory function
I have a problem that boils down to prove that the succession $\{a_n\}$ tends to infinity, where
$$a_n:=1+\sum_{0\leq j<n}D_{2j+1}(n-j)$$
and $D_{m}(n)$ is the number of divisors $d>1$ of $n$ ...
8
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0
answers
314
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Integer solutions of $x^2=4+8y^2+13z^2$
I have been looking for integer solutions of certain Diophantine equations, one of the simplest examples being
$x^2=4+8y^2+13z^2$.
The ideal answer would be a way to parametrize all the integer ...
8
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0
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393
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When does the Lloyd polynomial have only integral roots?
For a $t$-error correcting code of length $n$ over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, the Lloyd polynomial is given by
$$
L_t(n,x):=\sum_{j=0}^t(-1)^j\binom{x-1}{j}\binom{n-x}{t-j}(q-1)^{t-j}.
$$
A well-...
7
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0
answers
230
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Magic hourglass of squares hyperelliptic equation
I have been looking into the problem of the magic square of squares, or more specifically, the magic hourglass of squares, like so:
$a^2$ $b^2$ $c^2$
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $ $d^2$
$e^2$ $f^2$ $g^2$
...
7
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0
answers
271
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Is decidability reducible to unique decidability (perhaps in multilinear polynomial situations)?
Given a Diophantine equation it is not decidable if it has integer solution.
I. Is there a Diophantine set $\mathcal D_{unique}$ satisfying the properties
every member in $\mathcal D_{unique}$ is a ...
7
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Can the partition function $p(n)$ take perfect power values?
Recall that the perfect powers are those integers $m^k$ with $k,m\in\{2,3,\ldots\}$. I don't consider $0$ or $1$ as a perfect power.
Y. Bugeaud, M. Mignotte and S. Siksek [Annals of Math., 2006] ...
7
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$a^5+b^5=c^5+d^5$ and polynomial identities
No nontrivial integer solutions to $$ a^5+b^5=c^5+d^5 \qquad (1)$$ are known.
(1) has infinitely many solutions in an extension of $\mathbb{Z}$
(root of $9-15x+37x^2 $ ) resulting
from a genus 0 ...
7
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0
answers
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Diophantine $x^p+y^q=(x+y)^r$
Is the equation:
$$x^p+y^q=(x+y)^r$$
in integers $x,y,z,p,q,r$ with $p \geq 2,q \geq 2, r \geq 2$ complete solved?
For $(p,q,r)=(n,n,n+1)$ a parametrization is $t=1-s$ and $ t(s^n+t^n),s(s^n+t^n),s^...
6
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$1 + 3 x^3 + x y^2 + 6 y z^2 = 0$ - the new shortest open cubic equation
Are there integers $x,y,z$ such that
$$
1 + 3 x^3 + x y^2 + 6 y z^2 = 0 \,\, ? \quad\quad (1)
$$
If the length of an equation is the sum of degrees of monomials plus sum of logarithms of the ...
6
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0
answers
285
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A generalization of the Diophantine $m$-tuple problem
Are there distinct positive integers $a_1,a_2,a_3,b_1,b_2,b_3$ such that $a_ib_j+1$ is a perfect square number for each $i,j$ ($1\leq i,j\leq3$)?
I asked the following question in a group, and ...
6
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0
answers
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Does the equation $\sigma(\sigma(x^2))=2x\sigma(x)$ have any odd solutions?
This question was posted in MSE in early August 2020. It did garner several upvotes, but did not receive any responses. I have therefore cross-posted it here, hoping that it gets answered.
Let $\...
6
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0
answers
265
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*Why* is Bombieri-Pila uniform?
I am about to give a couple of lectures on Bombieri-Pila/the determinant method. Bombieri-Pila gives a bound $$|C(\mathbb{Q}) \cap B \cap \mathbb{Z}^2| \ll_{d,\epsilon} N^{1/d+\epsilon}$$ for $C$ a ...
6
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0
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Efficient solutions to general Bézout’s identity $a_1 b_1 + \dots + a_n b_n = 1$
Suppose I have integers $a_1, \dots, a_n$ which are coprime, meaning that
$$a_1 b_1 + \dots + a_n b_n = 1$$
has a solution in integers $b_1, \dots, b_n$.
I would like to get a bound saying ...
6
votes
0
answers
422
views
Are there infinitely many integer solutions to $a^4+b^4-c^4=N$?
Is there non-zero integer $N$ such that
$$ a^4+b^4-c^4=N \qquad (1)$$
has infinitely many integer solutions $(a,b,c)$ with $a,b \ne \pm c$?
(1) is a surface, so possible approach is to find genus 0 ...
5
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0
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Is 136 a difference of two rational fourth powers?
There is a rich literature that studies which small positive integers are the sums of two rational fourth powers, see e.g. Section 6.6 of Henri Cohen's book Volume I: Tools and Diophantine Equations. ...
5
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1
answer
355
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Can you describe all rational solutions to these simple-looking equations?
Can you describe, in parametric form or in any other explicit way, all rational solutions to any of the following equations:
$$
y^2 + z^2 = x^3+1,
$$
$$
y^2 + z^2 = x^3-1,
$$
$$
y^2+x^2y+z^2+1=0.
$$
...
5
votes
0
answers
168
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Existence of large integer solution for a simple-looking equation
Is it true that for every $k>0$ Diophantine equation
$$
y^2 + x^2y + z^2x + 1 = 0
$$
has an integer solution $(x,y,z)$ such that $\min\{|x|,|y|,|z|\}\geq k$?
Motivation: this equation arises in the ...
5
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0
answers
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The "Smallest" open Diophantine Equation, a potential approach
In this question, Bogdan Grechuk found the "Smallest" open Diophantine equation, where size is determined by taking absolute values of all coefficients, then substituting 2 into all ...
5
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0
answers
282
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On $w^4+x^4+y^2+z^2$ over a number field
In 1921 Siegel confirmed a conjecture of Hilbert by proving that for any number field $K$ each element of
$$K_{\geq0}=\{a\in K:\ \sigma(a)\geq0\ \mbox{for all}\ \sigma\in\mathrm{Gal}(K/\mathbb Q)\}$$ ...
5
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0
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Does the equation $a^b+b^c+c^a=d^e$ have solutions in $\mathbb {N}$
Here $a,b,c,d,e$ are distinct and all greater than $1$.
This question was formerly posted on Math.Stackexchange, precisely here,
but seems to be more general than some other tough number theory ...
5
votes
0
answers
202
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Integer points of rational function in 2 variables
Is there an algorithm that, given polynomials $P(x)$ and $Q(y)$ with integer coefficients, decides whether there exists integers $x$ and $y$ such that $\frac{P(x)}{Q(y)}$ is an integer?
This is a ...
5
votes
0
answers
253
views
Are the numbers $\varphi(n^2)\sigma(n^2)\ (n=1,2,3,\ldots)$ pairwise distinct?
Let $\varphi$ be Euler's totient function, and let $\sigma(n)=\sum_{d\mid n}d$ for $n=1,2,3,\ldots$. Both $\varphi$ and $\sigma$ are multiplicative functions. It is easy to see that the numbers
$$\...
5
votes
0
answers
121
views
Is integer circuit membership undecidable?
According to wikipedia
integer circuit
in its simplest form is succinct representation of multivariate polynomial with
integer coefficients. Decidability if an integer is represented by the integer ...
5
votes
0
answers
225
views
Diophantine applications of Paramodularity
I’ve asked this question to quite a few people in person and so far haven’t seen a good answer... but I believe one should exist, so here goes!
Ok, we all know how to (roughly) prove Fermat’s Last ...
5
votes
0
answers
149
views
Linear diophantine quasivariety having a unique solution
Consider the equation
$$6x+3y+2z=13$$
for $x$, $y$, $z$ nonnegative integers,
with the constraints
$$x=0\implies y=0,$$
$$x=0\implies z=0.$$
The set of solutions $(x,y,z)$ is a kind of quasivariety
...
5
votes
0
answers
233
views
No rational points on $x^n+a=y^2$ for all $n>4$"?
Is there rational (or better integer) $a$ such that for all $n>4$,$x^n+a=y^2$
has no rational points?
5
votes
0
answers
213
views
Isomorphism classes of lattices
Suppose we have a $4 \times 6$ matrix $A$ of rank $4$ whose entries are rational numbers. Define
$$
V = \{x \in \mathbb R^6 \mid A \cdot x = 0\}
$$
and
$$
\Lambda = \{x \in \mathbb Z^6 \mid A \cdot ...
5
votes
0
answers
195
views
Is every integer $n>1$ the sum of two triangular numbers and two powers of $5$?
Recall that the triangular numbers are those integers
$$T_n=n(n+1)/2\ \ \ (n=0,1,2,\ldots).$$
In 1796 Gauss proved that each $n\in\mathbb N=\{0,1,2,\ldots\}$ is the sum of three triangular numbers, ...
5
votes
0
answers
602
views
Necessary and Sufficient condition for Sharpness of Bombieri and Vaaler's result on Siegel's lemma?
This Wikipedia page currently quotes Bombieri and Vaaler's result on Siegel's lemma:
Suppose we are given a system of $m$ linear equations in $n$ unknowns such that $n>m$, say
$a_{11}x_1+\dots+...
5
votes
0
answers
742
views
Is this set empty?
Suppose we have two rank $n-1$ matrices in $\Bbb Z^{(n-1)\times n}$ given by
$$C=\begin{bmatrix}
c_{1}& -d_{1}& 0& 0&\dots 0& 0\\
0& c_{2}& -d_{2}& 0&...
4
votes
0
answers
77
views
Repeated values of a monomial
Let $H,M\geq 1$ and let $h_0$ and $m_0$ be fixed integers with $(h_0,m_0)\in [H,2H]\times[M,2M]$. Let $\alpha$ be a positive real number. I'm trying to find an upper found for the number of integer ...
4
votes
0
answers
369
views
Are there integers $x,y,z$ such that $(x+1)y^2-xz^2=x^3+2x+2$?
Is equation
$$
(x+1)y^2-xz^2=x^3+2x+2
$$
solvable in integers?
Motivation: For a polynomial $P$ consisting of $k$ monomials of degrees $d_1,\dots,d_k$ and integer coefficients $a_1,\dots,a_k$, define ...