Quadratic Diophantine equation $x^2+6y^2-xy=47$ has no solutions.

diophantine equationselementary-number-theorymodular arithmeticpolynomialsquadratics

I am trying to show that $x^2 + 6y^2 – xy = 47$ has no integer solutions. I know that the an efficient way is to look at this equation modulo $n$; other equations can be easily be solved this way. I tried this for $n = 2,3,4,5,6$ so far and I still cannot conclude that no solutions exist. Is there an efficient way of knowing what $n$ to try? Can you give some ideas for $n$ not large? Thanks.

Best Answer

Regard it as a equation in $x$, and rewrite: $x^2 - yx + 6y^2 - 47 = 0\implies \triangle = y^2 - 4(6y^2-47) = 188 - 23y^2\ge 0\implies y^2 \le 8\implies |y| = 0,1,2$ . And none of them yield a perfect square for $\triangle$. Thus no integer solutions !