Hermite normal form

The Hermite normal form is a canonical triangular form for an integer matrix under integer elementary row operations or, in the column convention, column operations. In the row convention for a nonsingular rank-two matrix, positive diagonal entries and reduction of the upper-right entry modulo the lower diagonal entry give the row Hermite normal form in rank two.

The row lattice of an integer matrix with $m$ rows is the set of their integer linear combinations. It is an Euclidean lattice in its real span, since it is contained in the discrete set ${\mathbb{Z}}^n$ and spans that real vector space. For a nonsingular two-by-two integer matrix, the row Hermite normal form in rank two gives a canonical basis and proves that its index in ${\mathbb{Z}}^2$ is the absolute value of its determinant.

For a finite-index subgroup $L\le {\mathbb{Z}}^2$, its projection to the first coordinate is $a\mathbb{Z}$ and its intersection with the second axis is $\{0\}\times d\mathbb{Z}$, with $a,d>0$. Choose $(a,b)\in L$, reducing $b$ modulo $d$. Together with $(0,d)$ it is a basis of this row lattice: subtracting a multiple of $(a,b)$ from any vector leaves a vector on the second axis. These parameters are unique, and reduction of the two coordinates shows $[{\mathbb{Z}}^2:L]=ad$. Consequently an integral matrix of positive determinant $n$ has a unique representative of this form under left multiplication by $S{L}_2(\mathbb{Z})$, with $ad=n$. This proves the lattice facts underlying determinant-n matrix representatives for Hecke operators.