In number theory, Euler's conjecture is a disproved conjecture related to Fermat's Last Theorem. It was proposed by Leonhard Euler in 1769. It states that for all integers n and k greater than 1, if the sum of n many kth powers of positive integers is itself a kth power, then n is greater than or equal to k:

$${\displaystyle a_{1}^{k}+a_{2}^{k}+\dots +a_{n}^{k}=b^{k}\implies n\geq k}$$

The conjecture represents an attempt to generalize Fermat's Last Theorem, which is the special case n = 2: if ${\displaystyle a_{1}^{k}+a_{2}^{k}=b^{k},}$ then 2 ≥ k.

Although the conjecture holds for the case k = 3 (which follows from Fermat's Last Theorem for the third powers), it was disproved for k = 4 and k = 5. It is unknown whether the conjecture fails or holds for any value k ≥ 6.

Euler was aware of the equality 59⁴ + 158⁴ = 133⁴ + 134⁴ involving sums of four fourth powers; this, however, is not a counterexample because no term is isolated on one side of the equation. He also provided a complete solution to the four cubes problem as in Plato's number 3³ + 4³ + 5³ = 6³ or the taxicab number 1729. The general solution of the equation ${\displaystyle x_{1}^{3}+x_{2}^{3}=x_{3}^{3}+x_{4}^{3}}$ is

$${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}x_{1}&=\lambda (1-(a-3b)(a^{2}+3b^{2}))\\[2pt]x_{2}&=\lambda ((a+3b)(a^{2}+3b^{2})-1)\\[2pt]x_{3}&=\lambda ((a+3b)-(a^{2}+3b^{2})^{2})\\[2pt]x_{4}&=\lambda ((a^{2}+3b^{2})^{2}-(a-3b))\end{aligned}}}$$

where a, b and ${\displaystyle {\lambda }}$ are any rational numbers.

Euler's conjecture was disproven by L. J. Lander and T. R. Parkin in 1966 when, through a direct computer search on a CDC 6600, they found a counterexample for k = 5. This was published in a paper comprising just two sentences. A total of three primitive (that is, in which the summands do not all have a common factor) counterexamples are known: $${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}144^{5}&=27^{5}+84^{5}+110^{5}+133^{5}\\14132^{5}&=(-220)^{5}+5027^{5}+6237^{5}+14068^{5}\\85359^{5}&=55^{5}+3183^{5}+28969^{5}+85282^{5}\end{aligned}}}$$ (Lander & Parkin, 1966); (Scher & Seidl, 1996); (Frye, 2004).