MathCastle
Groups and FieldsHardGroups and the Group Axioms

Groups and the Group Axioms · Hard problem

For a positive integer kk, let MkM_k be the set of 2×22\times2 integer matrices with determinant exactly kk. Since det⁡(AB)=det⁡(A)det⁡(B)\det(AB)=\det(A)\det(B), a product of two matrices from MkM_k always has determinant k2k^2. For how many integers kk with 1≤k≤101\le k\le10 does this force MkM_k to fail closure under matrix multiplication (i.e. k2≠kk^2\ne k)?