How to find the number of integer solutions ($x,y$) that satisfy the equation $y = 3x^2 + 7xy + 4y^2$

integersquadratics

I'm looking for the number of integer solutions for this equation. This problem is from a $7$th grade math contest where you had a few minutes to answer it, but the only way to solve it I found was to find all the solutions by solving second degree equations which takes significantly more than that. Is there any way to solve this problem that, perhaps, would be easier/would get closer to that time limit? Thanks.

Best Answer

Noting that the coefficient of the middle term is the sum of the other coefficients, so there is a factor $x+y$, we find the factorisation $y=(x+y)(3x+4y)$

Set $x+y=X$ and we have $y=X(3X+y)$ and $y=\cfrac {3X^2}{1-X}$

($X=1$ is easily eliminated, so we are not dividing by zero)

Now $X$ and $1-X$ can have no [non-trivial] factor in common, so $1-X$ must be a factor of $3$ hence $(1-X)\in \{-3, -1, 1, 3\}$

Clearly each of these possibilities does provide a solution, since the steps are reversible.

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