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Research notes on every problem, and a library of the papers behind them. Built from the open erdos repository.

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Source. Conjecture 2, PDF p. 2 of arXiv:2601.10296v2.

Statement

Let a,b≥2a,b\geq2 be integers. Choose kk and ℓ\ell maximal such that

a=Ak,b=Bℓa=A^k,\qquad b=B^{\ell}

for integers A,BA,B. Then, as m,nm,n range over the positive integers,

∣am−bn∣|a^m-b^n|

takes infinitely many distinct prime values, unless there is a nonzero integer QQ such that

gcd⁡(am−bn,Q)>1\gcd(a^m-b^n,Q)>1

for all positive m,nm,n satisfying

gcd⁡(m,ℓ)=gcd⁡(n,k)=1.\gcd(m,\ell)=\gcd(n,k)=1.

Proof scope. This is a conjecture, not a proved result in the source. No exact numbered Erdős-problem relationship is assigned here.