Let p be a prime and let r, s be positive integers. In this paper, we prove that the Goormaghtigh equation $(x^m-1)/(x-1)=(y^n-1)/(y-1)$, $x,y,m,n \in {\mathbb {N}}$, $\min \{x,y\}>1$, $\min \{m,n\}>2$ with $(x,y)=(p^r,p^s+1)$ has only one solution $(x,y,m,n)=(2,5,5,3)$. This result is related to the existence of some partial difference sets in combinatorics.

Let $c\geq 2$ be a positive integer. Terai [‘A note on the Diophantine equation $x^{2}+q^{m}=c^{n}$’, Bull. Aust. Math. Soc.90 (2014), 20–27] conjectured that the exponential Diophantine equation $x^{2}+(2c-1)^{m}=c^{n}$ has only the positive integer solution $(x,m,n)=(c-1,1,2)$. He proved his conjecture under various conditions on $c$ and $2c-1$. In this paper, we prove Terai’s conjecture under a wider range of conditions on $c$ and $2c-1$. In particular, we show that the conjecture is true if $c\equiv 3\hspace{0.6em}({\rm mod}\hspace{0.2em}4)$ and $3\leq c\leq 499$.

Let $m$, $a$, $c$ be positive integers with $a\equiv 3, 5~({\rm mod} \hspace{0.334em} 8)$. We show that when $1+ c= {a}^{2} $, the exponential Diophantine equation $\mathop{({m}^{2} + 1)}\nolimits ^{x} + \mathop{(c{m}^{2} - 1)}\nolimits ^{y} = \mathop{(am)}\nolimits ^{z} $ has only the positive integer solution $(x, y, z)= (1, 1, 2)$ under the condition $m\equiv \pm 1~({\rm mod} \hspace{0.334em} a)$, except for the case $(m, a, c)= (1, 3, 8)$, where there are only two solutions: $(x, y, z)= (1, 1, 2), ~(5, 2, 4). $ In particular, when $a= 3$, the equation $\mathop{({m}^{2} + 1)}\nolimits ^{x} + \mathop{(8{m}^{2} - 1)}\nolimits ^{y} = \mathop{(3m)}\nolimits ^{z} $ has only the positive integer solution $(x, y, z)= (1, 1, 2)$, except if $m= 1$. The proof is based on elementary methods and Baker’s method.

Let p be an odd prime. In this paper, we consider the equation and we describe all its solutions. Moreover, we prove that this equation has no solution (x,y,m,n) when n>3 is an odd prime and y is not the sum of two consecutive squares. This extends the work of Tengely [On the diophantine equation x2+q2m=2yp, Acta Arith.127(1) (2007), 71–86].