Past exam of the mathematics course of the year 2 of the natural sciences course of the University of Cambridge / 2023 / Paper 2 / 8 / d / Solution

Write a matrix in the set as $M(a,b)$. The zero matrix $M(0,0)$ has no multiplicative inverse matrix, so $S$ is not a group. Its determinant iswhich vanishes only at that zero matrix. It is therefore the only element that needs to be removed.

For closure, direct matrix multiplication givesThe product of nonzero determinants is nonzero, so two nonzero elements never multiply to zero. The identity matrix is $M(1,0)$, associativity is inherited from matrix multiplication, andThus $\boxed{S\setminus \{0_{2\times 2}\}\text{ is a group}}$. It is the multiplicative group of nonzero quaternions in the complex matrix representation of quaternions.