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Beal conjecture (Conjecture)

The Beal conjecture states:

Let $A,B,C,x,y,z$ be nonzero integers such that $x$ , $y$ , and $z$ are all $\ge 3$ , and \begin{equation}A^x+B^y=C^z\end{equation}Then $A$ , $B$ , and $C$ (or any two of them) are not relatively prime.

It is clear that the famous statement known as Fermat's Last Theorem would follow from this stronger claim.

Solutions of equation (1) are not very scarce. One parametric solution is $$[a(a^m + b^m)]^m + [b(a^m + b^m)]^m = (a^m + b^m)^{m+1}$$ for $m\ge 3$ , and $a,b$ such that the terms are nonzero. But computerized searching brings forth quite a few additional solutions, such as:

$\displaystyle 3^3 + 6^3$ $\displaystyle = 3^5$    
$\displaystyle 3^9 + 54^3$ $\displaystyle = 3^{11}$    
$\displaystyle 3^6 + 18^3$ $\displaystyle = 3^8$    
$\displaystyle 7^6 + 7^7$ $\displaystyle = 98^3$    
$\displaystyle 27^4 + 162^3$ $\displaystyle = 9^7$    
$\displaystyle 211^3 + 3165^3$ $\displaystyle = 422^4$    
$\displaystyle 386^3 + 4825^3$ $\displaystyle = 579^4$    
$\displaystyle 307^3 + 614^4$ $\displaystyle = 5219^3$    
$\displaystyle 5400^3 + 90^4$ $\displaystyle = 630^4$    
$\displaystyle 217^3 + 5642^3$ $\displaystyle = 651^4$    
$\displaystyle 271^3 + 813^4$ $\displaystyle = 7588^3$    
$\displaystyle 602^3 + 903^4$ $\displaystyle = 8729^3$    
$\displaystyle 624^3 + 14352^3$ $\displaystyle = 312^5$    
$\displaystyle 1862^3 + 57722^3$ $\displaystyle = 3724^4$    
$\displaystyle 2246^3 + 4492^4$ $\displaystyle = 74118^3$    
$\displaystyle 1838^3 + 97414^3$ $\displaystyle = 5514^4$    

Mysteriously, the summands have a common factor $>1$ in each instance.

Dan Vanderkam has verified the Beal conjecture for all values of all six variables up to 1000, and he provides source code for anyone who wants to repeat the verification for himself. A 64-bit machine is required. See http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/ danvk/beal.html

This conjecture is ``wanted in Texas, dead or alive''. For the details, plus some additional links, see Mauldin.




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Other names:  Beal's conjecture
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Cross-references: plus, conjecture, HTML, machine, code, source, variables, factor, equation, solutions, stronger, Fermat's last theorem, clear, relatively prime, integers
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This is version 13 of Beal conjecture, born on 2002-12-15, modified 2007-02-25.
Object id is 3765, canonical name is BealConjecture.
Accessed 7992 times total.

Classification:
AMS MSC11D41 (Number theory :: Diophantine equations :: Higher degree equations; Fermat's equation)

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Did James Constant find the proof? by pageman on 2007-12-26 02:48:51
Has anybody reviewed James Constant's proof?

http://www.coolissues.com/mathematics/Beal/beal.htm
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