The Problem of Catalan (2014.)

In 1842 the Belgian mathematician Eugene Charles Catalan asked whether 8 and 9 are the only consecutive pure powers of non-zero integers. 160 years after, the question was answered affirmatively by the Swiss mathematician of Romanian origin Preda Mihailescu.

In other words, 32 - 23 = 1 is the only solution of the equation xp - yq = 1 in integers x, y, p, q with xy = 0 and p, q 2.In this book we give a complete and (almost) self-contained exposition of Mihailescu's work, which must be understandable by a curious university student, not necessarily specializing in Number Theory.

We assume a very modest background:a standard university course of algebra, including basic Galois theory, and working knowledge of basic algebraic number theory.