A Diophantine equation with the harmonic mean (Q2300151)

Fix a polynomial \(f(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x]\). The authors consider the Diophantine equation for values \((x,y,z)\) defined by the harmonic mean of \(f(x), f(y)\) equalling \(f(z)\), that is, to the equation \(2 f(x) \, f(y) = f(z) \, (\,f(x) + f(y)\,)\). For \(f(x) = x^2 + bx + c\) with \(b, c\) integral and \(f\) without multiple roots, they show that should \((x, 2z + b, z)\) be an integer solution, then there are infinitely many integral solutions. Similarly, for a specific class of monic cubic \(f\) they give one solution for each \(f\). The techniques are Pell's equation, elementary theory of elliptic curves, and clever algebraic manipulations.