Exponential Diophantine Equations

Ranjan Kumar Dhani

DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
SAMBALPUR UNIVERSITY, BURLA

SEMINAR OF MPHIL

Under the Supervision of

Prof. P.K. Ray
DEPARTMENT OF MATHEMATICS
SAMBALPUR UNIVERSITY, BURLA

APRIL 23, 2021

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 1 / 14
OUTLINES

1 Preliminaries

2 Introduction

3 Solution of an Example

4 Different Types of eDe’s

5 Applications

6 References

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 2 / 14

 Preliminaries

Preliminaries

Linear Recurrence Sequences:

Let γ ≥ 1 is an integer, then the sequence {Un }n≥0 ⊂ C is called
as a Linear Recurrence Sequence of order k if the recurrence
satisfies

Un+k = a1 Un+k −1 + a2 Un+k −2 + · · · + ak Un

holds for all n ≥ 0 with some fixed coefficients a1 , a2 , ..., ak ∈ C.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 3 / 14

 Preliminaries

Pell’s Equation:
Pell’s equation, also called the Pell–Fermat equation, is any
Diophantine equation of the form x 2 − ny 2 = 1 where n is a given
positive non-square integer and integer solutions are sought for
x and y. In Cartesian coordinates, the equation is represented
by a hyperbola; solutions occur wherever the curve passes
through a point whose x and y coordinates are both integers,
such as the trivial solution with x = 1 and y = 0. Joseph Louis
Lagrange proved that, as long as n is not a perfect square,
Pell’s equation has infinitely many distinct integer solutions.
These solutions may be used to accurately approximate the
square root of n by rational numbers of the form x/y.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 4 / 14

 Preliminaries

Fibonacci Sequence:
The Fibonacci sequence Fn , is such that each number is the
sum of the two preceding ones, starting from 0 and 1. That is
F0 = 0, F1 = 1.
The general relation is

Fn = Fn−1 + Fn−2
for n>1.
Thus we can write the sequence as
0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, ...

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 5 / 14

 Preliminaries

Lucas Sequence: The Lucas sequences Un (P , Q ) and Vn (P , Q )

are certain constant-recursive integer sequences that satisfy
the recurrence relation

xn = Pxn−1 − Qxn−2
where P and Q are fixed integers. Any sequence satisfying this
recurrence relation can be represented as a linear combination
of the Lucas sequences Un (P , Q ) and Vn (P , Q ).
More generally, Lucas sequences Un (P , Q ) and Vn (P , Q )
represent sequences of polynomials in P and Q with integer
coefficients.
Famous examples of Lucas sequences include the Fibonacci
numbers, Mersenne numbers, Pell numbers, Lucas numbers,
Jacobsthal numbers, and a superset of Fermat numbers.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 6 / 14

 Preliminaries

Given two integer parameters P and Q, the Lucas sequences of

the first kind Un (P , Q ) and of the second kind Vn (P , Q ) are
defined by the recurrence relations:
U0 (P , Q ) = 0 U1 (P , Q ) = 1
Un (P , Q ) = P .Un−1 (P , Q ) − Q .Un−2 (P , Q ) for n>1.
V0 (P , Q ) = 2 V1 (P , Q ) = P
Vn (P , Q ) = P .Vn−1 (P , Q ) − Q .Vn−2 (P , Q ) for n>1.

P .Un−1 (P , Q ) + Vn−1 (P , Q )
Un (P , Q ) =
2

(P 2 − 4Q ).Un−1 (P , Q ) + P .Vn−1 (P , Q )
Vn (P , Q ) =
2

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 7 / 14

 Introduction

Introduction

In mathematics, a Diophantine equation is a polynomial

equation, usually involving two or more unknowns, such that
the only solutions of interest are the integer ones (an integer
solution is such that all the unknowns take integer values). A
linear Diophantine equation equates to a constant the sum of
two or more monomials, each of degree one. In a same fashion
we define an Exponential Diophantine Equation as one in
which unknowns can appear in exponents.
For an example the equation given below as :

5x − 8y = 1 (1)
where x and y are integers.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 8 / 14

 Introduction

Isolated examples of Exponential Differential Equations occur

very early in the history of the theory of numbers (Mersenne,
Fermat). The equation x y = y x is another hoary example. To
compute accurately the logarithms of primes, Stormer [12]
found all solutions of the equation 1 + 2a 3b 5c = 2c 3d 5f ; his
method depended heavily upon Pell’s equation.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 9 / 14

 Solution of an Example

Solution of an Example

In this example if 5x − 8y = 1, then in particular

5x − 8y = 1(mod 21). We have
5x = 1, 5, 4, 20, 16, .... repeating every 6 steps.
8y = 1, 8, 1, 8, .... repeating every 6 steps.
So there are only 12 possibilities 5x − 8y when working modulo
21.
We can check them all, and we notice that
1 − 1, 1 − 8, 5 − 1, 5 − 8, ...., 17 − 1, 17 − 8 are not over equal to 1.
So the equation has no solutions.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 10 / 14

 Different Types of eDe’s

Different Types of eDe’s

Some solutions of equations of form 1 + x a = y b + z c .
Theorem
The solutions of

1 + 2a = 2b + 3c (2)
in non-negative integers are :(a, b , c) = (2, 1, 1), (4, 3, 2) or
(t, t, 0) , t is arbitrary.

Theorem
The only solutions of

1 + 5a = 3b + 3c (3)
is non-negative integers are (a, b , c) = (0, 0, 0) or (1, 1, 1).
Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 11 / 14
 Different Types of eDe’s

Solutions of eDe’s of the form x a + y b = z c + w d

Theorem
The only solutions to

17a + 7b = 3c + 5d (4)
are (a, b, c, d)=(0, 0, 0, 0) and (0, 1, 1, 1).

Theorem
The only solutions to

13a + 7b = 3c + 5d (5)

are (a, b, c, d)=(0, 0, 0, 0), (0, 1, 1, 1) and (1, 0, 2, 1).

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 12 / 14

 Applications

Applications
Here now we elaborate some of Applications of Exponential
Diophantine Equations.
1. One application is to the study of the class equation for a
finite group G . If g is the order of G, then

g = 1 + h1 + · · · + he , (6)
where c is number of nontrivial classes, and where hi is the
cardinality of the i th class. It is known that hi divides g, so that
for each c, and for a given g, (6) is an Exponential Diophantine
Equation. For fixed g, the equation clearly has only a finite
number of solutions. It is interesting to find the solutions (for
given g) for each c. If xi (xi |g) satisfy

g = 1 + h1 + · · · + he (7)
Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 13 / 14
 Applications

it is usually a separate question to decide whether a finite

group with c non trivial classes Ct exists with |Ci | = xi . (If g is
too small, there is no solution to (6) this puts a bound on the
order of a group with a preassigned number of classes.)
2. Another application of Exponential Diophantine Equation is to
the theory of finite nonabelian simple groups. Suppose G is
such a group, p, q1 , · · · , qs are the distinct primes dividing |G |,
p 2 - |G |and m = [N : C ] where N , C are respectively the
normalizer and centralizer in G of a Sylow p-subgroup, Sp . Then
the degree equation for a p − block of highest defect must have
the form
m
X α(i )
±xi =0 (8)
i =1
where q1 , · · · , qs are only possible prime factors of
xi , i = 1, 2 · · · m.
Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 14 / 14
 References

1. Brenner J.L., Foster L.L., Pacific Journal of Mathematics, Vol

101, No. 2, Dec 1982.
2. Lavrov M., Exponential Diophantine Equations, Western PA
ARML Practice.
3.

Ranjan Kumar Dhani Exponential Diophantine Equations April 22, 2021 14 / 14