3
$\begingroup$

Consider the Pell-type equation $ax^2 - by^2 = c$. When $c = \pm 1$, the following Stormer-type result turns out to hold (see e.g. Theorem 3.2):

Theorem. Let $a,b$ be coprime positive integers whose product $ab$ is not a perfect square. Consider the equation $ax^2 - by^2 = 1$, let $(x_1, y_1)$ be its minimal positive integer solution and $(x,y)$ be any positive integer solution. If every prime divisor of $x$ divides $a$ or if every prime divisor of $y$ divides $b$, then $(x,y) = (x_1, y_1)$ or $(x,y) = (ax_1^3 + 3bx_1y_1^2, by_1^3 + 3ax_1^2y_1)$.

Moreover, if $a=1$ or $b=1$, then the second option for $(x,y)$ is not possible.

The above paper (see Section 2), as well as many of its references, also contains results for $c = \pm 2, \pm 4$ and that's it. A natural question follows - is there a Stormer type result for any integer $c$? I understand it might be harder to derive such, because for a generic $c$ the set of solutions to a Pell-type equation consists of several chains rather than a single one as in $x^2 - Dy^2 = 1$. Anyway, I still hope something meaningful can be said in this setting.

$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ I suspect the reason you only see $c \in \{\pm 1, \pm 2, \pm 4\}$ is because quadratic forms happen to have degree $2$. Also, for general $c$ this equation will boil down to the number of factorizations of $c$, and the class number of the quadratic field $\mathbb{Q}(\sqrt{ab})$ inevitably creeps in. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 1 at 17:24
  • $\begingroup$ artofproblemsolving.com/community/c3046h2938816 $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 1 at 18:16
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @individ I do not think this helps at all - it only gives some family of solutions, but in general these are even not all solutions to the equation. The question here addresses a statement which needs to be valid for all solutions. $\endgroup$ Commented Feb 2 at 0:48

0

You must log in to answer this question.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.