Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-year-2-of-the-natural-sciences-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2017/paper-2/9/a/solution

Write with in entry , in entry and in entry , and perform all arithmetic in the finite field . Direct multiplication gives
Thus the set is closed. Associativity comes from matrix multiplication. The identity element is , and solving the product formula for it gives
Both orders of multiplication with this inverse give the identity. Hence these matrices form a finite group, an instance of the Heisenberg group over a prime field. Each coordinate has five independent possibilities, with distinct triples giving distinct matrices, so
The explicit coordinate convention matters because the central coordinate is here; other descriptions of the Heisenberg group over a prime field may place the central coordinate last.

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