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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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Claim. Assume the abc conjecture. Then for fixed positive integers kk and rr with gcd⁡(k,r)=1\gcd(k,r)=1 there are only finitely many powerful numbers of the form kn+rk^n+r (Theorem 2.3 of P. A. CrowdMath, Applications of the abc conjecture to powerful numbers, arXiv:2005.07321, posted 2020-05-15), which answers Problem 4 of Cushing and Pascoe, that 2n+12^n+1 is powerful only finitely often. The paper's Theorem 2.4 shows, under the same hypothesis, that (n!)r+k(n!)^r+k is powerful only finitely often for fixed positive rr and kk, which covers n!+1n!+1. The source card is crowdmath_2020_applications_abc_conjecture_powerful_numbers.

What it leaves open. Theorem 2.3 needs rr positive, and the paper does not treat 2n−12^n-1, although the site credits it with the whole first question of Problem 936, on 2n±12^n\pm1. Even conditionally, the claim answers only the case 2n+12^n+1 of that question.

Hypothesis. The abc conjecture: for every ϵ>0\epsilon>0 there is a constant KϵK_\epsilon such that coprime positive integers a+b=ca+b=c satisfy c<Kϵrad⁡(abc)1+ϵc<K_\epsilon\operatorname{rad}(abc)^{1+\epsilon}. It is unproved, so the claim gives no unconditional answer and settles no standing of the problem.

Depends on. No other wiki page; the claim rests on the cited preprint and the hypothesis stated above.

Acceptance. None. The paper is an arXiv preprint with no journal version found, and the site labels the problem OPEN, so the site's commentary crediting the paper is not acceptance.