Unsolved problem in mathematics
In mathematics, Hall's conjecture is an open question on the differences between perfect squares and perfect cubes. It asserts that a perfect square "y"2 and a perfect cube "x"3 that are not equal must lie a substantial distance apart. This question arose from consideration of the Mordell equation in the theory of integer points on elliptic curves.
The original version of Hall's conjecture, formulated by Marshall Hall, Jr. in 1970, says that there is a positive constant "C" such that for any integers "x" and "y" for which "y"2 ≠ "x"3,
formula_1
Hall suggested that perhaps "C" could be taken as 1/5, which was consistent with all the data known at the time the conjecture was proposed. Danilov showed in 1982 that the exponent 1/2 on the right side (that is, the use of |"x"|1/2) cannot be replaced by any higher power: for no δ ; 0 is there a constant "C" such that |"y"2 − "x"3| ; C|"x"|1/2 + δ whenever "y"2 ≠ "x"3.
In 1965, Davenport proved an analogue of the above conjecture in the case of polynomials: 
if "f"("t") and "g"("t") are nonzero polynomials over the complex numbers C such that 
"g"("t")3 ≠ "f"("t")2 in C["t"], then
formula_2
The "weak" form of Hall's conjecture, stated by Stark and Trotter around 1980, replaces the square root on the right side of the inequality by any exponent "less" than 1/2: for any "ε" ; 0, there is some constant "c"(ε) depending on ε such that for any integers "x" and "y" for which "y"2 ≠ "x"3,
formula_3
The original, "strong", form of the conjecture with exponent 1/2 has never been disproved, although it is no longer believed to be true and the term "Hall's conjecture" now generally means the version with the ε in it. For example, in 1998, Noam Elkies found the example
4478849284284020423079182 − 58538865167812233 = -1641843,
for which compatibility with Hall's conjecture would require "C" to be less than .0214 ≈ 1/50, so roughly 10 times smaller than the original choice of 1/5 that Hall suggested.
The weak form of Hall's conjecture would follow from the ABC conjecture. A generalization to other perfect powers is Pillai's conjecture, though it is also known that Pillai's conjecture would be true if Hall's conjecture held for any specific 0 ; "ε" ; 1/2.
The table below displays the known cases with formula_4. Note that "y" can be computed as the
nearest integer to "x"3/2. This list is known to contain all examples with formula_5 (the first 44 entries in the table) but may be incomplete past that point.
References.
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