Recent advances in the theory of exponential sums (see, for example, [6], [7], [8], [12]) have contributed to corresponding progress in our understanding of the solubility of systems of simultaneous additive equations (see, in particular, [1], [2], [3], [4]). In a previous memoir [11] we developed a version of Vaughan's iterative method (see Vaughan [8]) suitable for the analysis of simultaneous additive equations of differing degrees, discussing in detail the solubility of simultaneous cubic and quadratic equations. The mean value estimates derived in [11] are, unfortunately, weaker than might be hoped, owing to the presence of undesirable singular solutions in certain auxiliary systems of congruences. The methods of [12] provide a flexible alternative to Vaughan's iterative method, and, as was apparent even at the time of their initial development at the opening of the present decade, such ideas provide a means of avoiding altogether the aforementioned problematic singular solutions. The systematic development of such an approach having been described recently in [15], in this paper we apply such methods to investigate the solubility of pairs of additive equations, one cubic and one quadratic, thereby improving the main conclusion of [11].

Let F(X, Y) be an absolutely irreducible polynomial with coefficients in an algebraic number field K. Denote by C the algebraic curve defined by the equation F(X, Y) = 0 and by K[C] the ring of regular functions on Cover K. Assume that there is a unit ϕ in K[C] − K such that 1 − ϕ is also a unit. Then we establish an explicit upper bound for the size of integral solutions of the equation F(X, Y) = 0, defined over K. Using this result we establish improved explicit upper bounds on the size of integral solutions to the equations defining non-singular affine curves of genus zero, with at least three points at ‘infinity’, the elliptic equations and a class of equations containing the Thue curves.

In this paper, we derive a number of explicit lower bounds for rational approximation to certain cubic irrationalities, proving, for example, that for any non-zero integers p and q. A number of these irrationality measures improve known results, including those for . Some Diophantine consequences are briefly discussed.

In this paper we investigate the solutions in integers x, y, z, X, Y, Z of the system

where P is a real number that may be taken to be arbitrarily large, and the (fixed) integer exponent h satisfies h≥4. The system has 6P3 + O(P2) “trivial” solutions in which x, y, z are a permutation of X, Y, Z. Our result implies that the number of non-trivial solutions is at most o(P3), so that the total number of solutions is asymptotic to 6P3.

Let λ1, …, λs be nonzero real numbers and suppose that λ1/λs is irrational. In 1955, Davenport and Roth showed [6] that the values taken by

at integer points (x1, …, xs) are dense on the real line, provided that s≥8. In the present paper we obtain the same result with seven variables.

We consider the Egyptian fraction equation and discuss techniques for generating solutions. By examining a quadratic recurrence relation modulo a family of primes we have found some 500 new infinite sequences of solutions. We also initiate an investigation of the randomness of the distribution of solutions, and show that there are infinitely many solutions not generated by the aforementioned technique.

Let k ≥ 3 and n > 6k be positive integers. The equations, with integer coefficients, have nontrivial p-adic solutions for all p > Ck8, where C is some positive constant. Further, for values k≥ K we can take C = 1 + O(K-½).

Dörner [8] has recently proved a result for systems of additive equations over algebraic number fields, which we restate in a more specific setting.

The problem of finding rational points on varieties defined by two additive cubic equations has attracted some interest. Davenport and Lewis [12], Cook [8] and Vaughan [16] showed that the pair of equations

with integer coefficients a,, bt always has a nontrivial solution when s = 18, s = 17, and 5 = 16 respectively. Vaughan's result in s = 16 variables is best possible since there are examples of pairs of equations (1) with s = 15 which fail to vanish simultaneously in the 7-adic field. However if the existence of a 7-adic solution is assured then Baker and Briidern [2], building on work of Cook [9], showed that s = 16 could be replaced by s = 15, and recently Briidern [5] has obtained the result with s = 14.

Let Q(x) = Q(x1,…, xn) є ęZ x1, …, xn] be a quadratic form. The primary purpose of this paper is to bound the smallest non-zero solution of the congruence Q(x) = 0 (mod q). The problem may be formulated as follows. We ask for the least bound Bn(q) such that, for any Ki > 0 satisfying

and any Q, the congruence has a non-zero solution satisfying

In this paper the power values of the sum of factorials and a special diophantine problem related to the Ramanujan-Nagell equation are studied. The proofs are based on deep analytic results and Baker's method.

Several effective upper bounds are known for the solutions of Thue equations, Thue-Mahler equations and superelliptic equations. One of the basic parameters occurring in these bounds is the height of the polynomial involved in the equation. In the present paper it is shown that better (and, in certain important particular cases, best possible) upper bounds can be obtained in terms of the height, if one takes into consideration also the discriminant of the polynomial.

This paper is the first part of a long delayed revision of the manuscript ‘The growth conditions recurrence sequences’ (circulated in 1982) in which the authors outlined a proof of the now well known theorem on the finiteness of the number of solutions of S-unit equations. The argument lifting the result from number fields to arbitrary fields of characteristic zero has original features.

This paper is concerned with non-trivial solvability in p–adic integers, for relatively large primes p, of a pair of additive equations of degree k > 1: where the coefficients a1,…, an, b1,…, bn are rational integers.

Our first theorem shows that the above equations have a non-trivial solution in p–adic integers if n > 4k and p > k6. The condition on n is best possible.

The later part of the paper obtains further information for the particular case k = 5. specifically we show that when k = 5 the above equations have a non-trivial solution in p–adic integers (a) for all p > 3061 if n ≥ 21; (b) for all p execpt p = 5, 11 if n ≥ 26.