Four exponentials conjecture

In mathematics, specifically the field of transcendental number theory, the four exponentials conjecture is a conjecture which, given the right conditions on the exponents, would guarantee the transcendence of at least one of four exponentials. The conjecture, along with two related, stronger conjectures, is at the top of a hierarchy of conjectures and theorems concerning the arithmetic nature of a certain number of values of the exponential function. If x1, x2 and y1, y2 are two pairs of complex numbers, with each pair being linearly independent over the rational numbers, then at least one of the following four numbers is transcendental: An alternative way of stating the conjecture in terms of logarithms is the following. For 1 ≤ i, j ≤ 2 let λij be complex numbers such that exp(λij) are all algebraic. Suppose λ11 and λ12 are linearly independent over the rational numbers, and λ11 and λ21 are also linearly independent over the rational numbers, then An equivalent formulation in terms of linear algebra is the following. Let M be the 2×2 matrix where exp(λij) is algebraic for 1 ≤ i, j ≤ 2. Suppose the two rows of M are linearly independent over the rational numbers, and the two columns of M are linearly independent over the rational numbers. Then the rank of M is 2. While a 2×2 matrix having linearly independent rows and columns usually means it has rank 2, in this case we require linear independence over a smaller field so the rank isn't forced to be 2. For example, the matrix has rows and columns that are linearly independent over the rational numbers, since π is irrational. But the rank of the matrix is 1. So in this case the conjecture would imply that at least one of e, eπ, and eπ2 is transcendental (which in this case is already known since e is transcendental). The conjecture was considered in the early 1940s by Atle Selberg who never formally stated the conjecture. A special case of the conjecture is mentioned in a 1944 paper of Leonidas Alaoglu and Paul Erdős who suggest that it had been considered by Carl Ludwig Siegel.