A generalized Fermat equation is a generalization of the equation whose solution is desired in Fermat's last theorem
to
for positive integers ,
,
, and
, with
a fixed positive integer
parameter and trivial solutions having
,
, or
excluded.
is trivial to solve by taking
and
.
is more difficult, but can be solved by noting that solutions
exist iff
can be written as a sum of two squares
of nonnegative integers. The first such values
of
are 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17, 18, 20, 25, 26, ... (OEIS A001481).