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Solve $3^m-2=n^2$ for positive pairs of integers $(n,m)$.

My try:

$3^m-6=n^2-4\implies 3(3^{m-1}-2)=(n+2)(n-2)\implies 3=n+2\ or\ 3=n-2$ so we got $n=\pm 5 , \pm 1$. Used $\pm$ as we have $n^2$.

Putting $n=\pm 5 , \pm 1$ gives $m=3,1$ respectively. We kick out negative ones as problem ask for positive ones only.

But how do I prove that $n+2=3$ not something like multiples of $3$ and similar for $n-2$. More precisely something like the following:

$n+2=3d$, $n-2=k$ and $dk=3^{m-1}-2$.

Please help.

Xam
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mathlover
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  • I changed the tags on this. It really has nothing to do with real analysis. This is a Diophantine equation. I don't see yet how to prove this, but (as you realize) your second implication is not valid. Note that $m$ must be odd, since otherwise you have a difference of two squares equal to 2. You could also subtract $1$ from both sides and do something like you did, but I'm not getting much mileage out of that. – B. Goddard Mar 03 '17 at 13:29
  • Have you tried to insert n + 2 = 3d (and n - 2 = 3d - 4) into the right hand side, now that you've made that conclusion, and continued to play with the expression trying to find out something about the relation between d or m? – Squid Mar 03 '17 at 13:33
  • I ran a straight search with $m$ up to 38 and $n$ up till 999999964 and thus far $(m,n) = (1,1)$ and $(m,n) = (3,5)$ are the only ones I've found. I'm fairly confident these are it and thus that the problem should be to prove there are no others. However my attempts to prove it are coming up empty for now. – Squid Mar 03 '17 at 14:55

2 Answers2

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This is too long for a comment. My approach is not "elementary" since I use factorization in quadratic rings, more exactly, I'll work in $\Bbb{Z}[\sqrt{-2}]$ which is known to be a Euclidean domain and hence a UFD (unique factorization domain). Moreover, in this ring every element $x+y\sqrt{-2}$ has norm $N(x+y\sqrt{-2})=(x+y\sqrt{-2})(x-y\sqrt{-2})=x^2+2y^2$.

If $m$ is even, then we would have a difference of two squares equal to $2$, but it's easy to see that in that case there are no solutions.

Then $m$ is odd. If $m=1$ we have $3-2=n^2$ which give us $n=1$. So from now on we assume that $m\ge 3$. We rewrite the equation in the following form $$3^m=n^2+2=(n+\sqrt{-2})(n-\sqrt{-2}).$$

We claim that $n+\sqrt{-2}$ and $n-\sqrt{-2}$ are coprime. Indeed, if $d=\gcd(n+\sqrt{-2},n-\sqrt{-2})$, then $d\mid (n+\sqrt{-2})-(n-\sqrt{-2})=2\sqrt{-2}$, so $N(d)\mid N(2\sqrt{-2})=8$. On the other hand, $d\mid n+\sqrt{-2}$, which implies that $N(d)\mid N(n+\sqrt{-2})=n^2+2=3^m$ and therefore we deduce that $N(d)$ is an odd positive divisor of $8$, hence it must be $N(d)=1$ and this implies that $d$ is an unit in $\Bbb{Z}[\sqrt{-2}]$.

Since $n+\sqrt{-2}$ and $n-\sqrt{-2}$ are coprime and its product is a $m$-th power, by the fundamental theorem of the arithmetic in $\Bbb{Z}[\sqrt{-2}]$ we can conclude that there are units $u, v\in \Bbb{Z}[\sqrt{-2}]$ and elements $a_1\pm b_1\sqrt{-2}\in \Bbb{Z}[\sqrt{-2}]$ such that $$n+\sqrt{-2}=u(a_1+b_1\sqrt{-2})^m,$$ $$n-\sqrt{-2}=v(a_1-b_1\sqrt{-2})^m.$$

But, it's known that the units of $\Bbb{Z}[\sqrt{-2}]$ are $1$ and $-1$, both being $m$-th powers (indeed, $1^m=1$ and $(-1)^m=-1$), thus we can assume that both $n+\sqrt{-2}$ and $n-\sqrt{-2}$ are pure $m$-th powers, i.e., $$n+\sqrt{-2}=(a+b\sqrt{-2})^m,$$ $$n-\sqrt{-2}=(a-b\sqrt{-2})^m.$$

Now, we have $(a+b\sqrt{-2})^m(a-b\sqrt{-2})^m=(n+\sqrt{-2})(n-\sqrt{-2})=n^2+2=3^m$, then $$((a+b\sqrt{-2})(a-b\sqrt{-2}))^m=(a^2+2b^2)^m=3^m.$$

Therefore we deduce that $a^2+2b^2=3$, which has the solutions $a=\pm 1$ and $b=\pm 1$. Let's suppose initially that both $a$ and $b$ are positive, i.e., $a=b=1$. This lead us to $$n+\sqrt{-2}=(1+\sqrt{-2})^m.$$

Comparing the imaginary parts of both expressions in last equation gives us $$1=\sum_{k=0}^{\frac{m-1}{2}}(-2)^k \binom{m}{2k+1}.$$

I'm stuck here because the RHS alternates positive with negative values and I don't know how that expression can be bounded. Besides we can't try to use a $p$-adic argument similar to the solution of the equation $x^m-1=y^2$ because we can't remove $1$ from the LHS.

Xam
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3

If $m=3k$, then the equation is $n^2 = (3^k)^3 -2$. I put the elliptic curve $y^2=x^3-2$ into SAGE. The only integral point is $(x,y) = (3,5)$ which corresponds to the the solution $m=3, n=5$.

If $m=3k+1$, then multiply through by $9$ to get $(3n)^2 = (3^{k+1})^3 - 18.$ I put the curve $y^2 = x^3-18$ into SAGE. The only integral point is $(x,y) = (3,3)$, which corresponds to the solution $m=1, n=1$.

If $m=3k+2$, then multiply through by $81$ to get $(9n)^2 = (3^{k+2})^3 - 182.$ I put the curve $y^2 = x^3 - 182$ into SAGE and there are no integral points.

So there are only the two solutions to the equation. I don't see a more elementary way to do this.