Since a straight line intercepts a parabola in at most two points, I believe your looking for the number of lattice points on both the curve and straight line that surround the area between the two lines. Is that right? Otherwise the answer would be one of either 0,1,2 or infinity. Infinity would be if you include all lattice points on the parabola, not just those bordering the area. Then again you may be looking for the number of coordinite points within the area so I am unsure what you are looking for. Also, should we assume that a and b are integers?