TITLE: A homogeneous cubic polynomial with no non-trivial zero over $\mathbf{F_7}$
QUESTION [5 upvotes]: I met a problem in class which I cannot solve:

Find a homogeneous cubic polynomial of three variables $x, y, z$ that has no non-trivial zero over $\mathbf{F_7}$.

Homogeneous cubic polynomial means each monomial term of the polynomial has degree 3. I do not have many thoughts and just attempted with trials but did not have any right candidate. I know the third power of any element in $\mathbf{F_7}$ is $\pm 1$ or $0$ so I tried to consider the sum of three cubic elements like $(x-y)^3+(x+z)^3+(y+z)^3$ but none of them worked. Is there any systematic way to approach it? Any hint or thought is appreciated!

REPLY [2 votes]: Note: the answer recommended by user760870 is something I asked about years ago, at primes represented integrally by a homogeneous cubic form
Alright; this is what they wanted us to figure out. Take a polynomial in one variable that is irreducible over the field, I choose
$$  x^3 - 3 x -1  $$
Next, make the 3 by 3 matrix that is the companion matrix for the polynomial. 
$$
M =
\left(
\begin{array}{rrr}
0 & 1 & 0 \\
0 & 0 & 1 \\
1 & 3 & 0 \\
\end{array}
\right)
$$
Finally, take the matrix
$$ xI + yM + z M^2  $$
to get the norm form
$$ \det (xI +yM +z M^2)= \color{red}{ x^3 + y^3 + z^3 -3xyz  -3yz^2 +6z x^2 -3xy^2 + 9 z^2 x } $$
COMPUTER CAUTION: if using integers on a computer, it is not enough to command   t % 7, since the t resulting from the cubic above may be negative, ans t % 7 may be a number from $-6$ to $0.$ My variable was named sump, I was getting wrong totals until I put in
 sump %=7;

sump += 7;

sump %=7;

...........................................
? factormod( x^3 - 3*x-1,7)
%35 = 
[Mod(1, 7)*x^3 + Mod(4, 7)*x + Mod(6, 7) 1]


    ? 
    ? mat = [ 0,1,0; 0,0,1; 1,3,0]
    %31 = 
    [0 1 0]

    [0 0 1]

    [1 3 0]

    ? charpoly(mat)
    %32 = x^3 - 3*x - 1
    ? d = x* matid(3) + y * mat + z * mat^2
    %33 = 
    [x       y       z]

    [z x + 3*z       y]

    [y 3*y + z x + 3*z]

    ? normform2 = matdet(d)
    %34 = x^3 + 6*z*x^2 + (-3*y^2 - 3*z*y + 9*z^2)*x + (y^3 - 3*z^2*y + z^3)
    ? 

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