Let be positive integers with . How many ordered triples of solutions are there to the equation ?
Solution
Break all possible values of into the four cases: and odd. By Fermat's theorem, no solutions exist for the case because we may write . We show that for odd, no solutions exist to the more general equation where is a positive integer. Assume otherwise for contradiction's sake, and suppose on the grounds of well ordering that is the least exponent for which a solution exists. Clearly and must both be even or both odd. If both are odd, we have . The right factor of this expression contains an odd number of odd terms whose sum is an odd number greater than 1, impossible. Similarly if and are even, write and . The equation becomes . If is greater than 0, then our choice could not have been minimal. Otherwise, , so that two consecutive positive integers are perfect th powers, which is also absurd. For the case that is even and greater than 4, consider the same generalization and hypotheses. Writing , we find . Then . By our previous work, we see that cannot be an odd integer greater than 1. But then must also be even, contrary to the minimality of . Finally, for we get . Factoring the left hand side gives and , where implicit is . Solving, we get and , for a total of 49 solutions. Namely, those corresponding to .