Fix fundamental units and write . Rank zero already gives a finite unit group. Otherwise put . The logarithmic embedding in Dirichlet's theorem has a weighted sum-zero image and is injective on the free exponent lattice. Norm equivalence and that sum-zero condition give an archimedean embedding with
This is the small archimedean value of a large unit. From the equation, is exponentially close to one. Also by the arithmetic height inequalities for , so the fundamental-unit exponents of have size .
For large , take the small-branch logarithm of . With it is the nonzero form
using fixed logarithms and . The integer corrects the branch, and nonzero follows since would force . Its upper bound is . The assumed effective logarithmic-form estimate for the fixed algebraic numbers gives . Thus , effectively bounding . The finitely many embeddings and torsion choices give uniform constants. Therefore there are only finitely many unit solutions, and their exponents are effectively bounded.
For the Thue application, take an irreducible integral binary form of degree and . In a splitting field, write and put , which are algebraic integers. The integral factors satisfy . Each ideal therefore divides one fixed ideal, giving finitely many possibilities. Choose a generator for each principal possibility, so with units .
For three distinct roots,
Division by the third term gives a fixed-coefficient unit equation in . Its solutions are finite, hence there are finitely many values of . This ratio determines the rational direction , since the roots are distinct. In a fixed direction, homogeneity and leave only finitely many integer scales. This proves Thue theorem, and the argument also works for a form with at least three distinct projective roots even if reducible.
The hyperelliptic alternative uses a related factorization for the usual nondegenerate case with squarefree of degree at least three. For , ideals of two different root factors can share primes only above the fixed root differences and the leading coefficient. At other primes their valuations are even. Finite exceptional-prime and ideal-class choices, together with units modulo squares, reduce the factors to finitely many expressions . Relations between distinct root factors then give simultaneous norm or Pell-type equations. Writing their solutions in fundamental units and applying the same small-value/logarithmic-form estimates bounds the unit exponents, hence . The common-factor and square-class reductions are essential; a single quadratic norm equation alone can have infinitely many Pell solutions. This outlines the effective hyperelliptic treatment as well as the explicit Thue reduction.