Matrices with finite period
Olga Taussky, John A. Todd · Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society · 1940
The study of the primitive solutions of the equation where A = (aij) is an n × n matrix whose elements are rational integers, was begun a long time ago. In most cases this equation occurred incidentally in another theory; for instance Jordan encountered it in connection with linear differential equations having algebraic solutions, Minkowski in connection with quadratic forms and Turnbull in geometry. An important fact about these matrices is that any unimodular matrix can be represented as the product of matrices with finite period.