Integer Solutions to $z^2-y^2z+x^3=0$ – What Are They?

diophantine equationsnt.number-theory

The question is to describe ALL integer solutions to the equation in the title. Of course, polynomial parametrization of all solutions would be ideal, but answers in many other formats are possible. For example, answer to famous Markoff equation $x^2+y^2+z^2=3xyz$ is given by Markoff tree. See also this previous question Solve in integers: $y(x^2+1)=z^2+1$ for some other examples of formats of acceptable answers. In general, just give as nice description of the integer solution set as you can.

If we consider the equation as quadratic in $z$ and its solutions are $z_1,z_2$, then $z_1+z_2=y^2$ while $z_1z_2=x^3$, so the question is equivalent to describing all pairs of integers such that their sum is a perfect square while their product is a perfect cube.

An additional motivation is that, together with a similar equation $xz^2-y^2z+x^2=0$, this equation is the smallest $3$-monomial equation for which I do not know how to describe all integer solutions. Here, the "smallest" is in the sense of question What is the smallest unsolved Diophantine equation?, see also Can you solve the listed smallest open Diophantine equations? .

Best Answer

We get $z(y^2-z)=x^3$. Thus $z=ab^2c^3$, $y^2-z=ba^2d^3$ for certain integers $a, b, c, d$ (that is easy to see considering the prime factorization). So $ab(bc^3+ad^3)=y^2$. Denote $a=TA$, $b=TB$ (each pair $(a, b) $ corresponds to at least one triple $(A, B, T)$, but possibly to several triples). You get $T^3AB(Bc^3+Ad^3)=y^2$.Thus $T$ divides $y$, say $y=TY$. We get $Y^2=TAB(Bc^3+Ad^3)$.

So, all solutions are obtained as follows: start with arbitrary $A, B, c, d$ and choose any $Y$ which square is divisible by $AB(Bc^3+Ad^3)$, the ratio is denoted by $T$ (if both $Y$ and $AB(Bc^3+Ad^3)$ are equal to 0, take arbitrary $T$).

Related Question