Quasi multiplication and \(K\)-groups (Q2861579)

The authors of the paper solve an open problem posed by \textit{M. Abel} [in: Proceedings of the international conference on topological algebras and their applications, ICTAA 2008, held in Tartu, Estonia, January 24--27, 2008 to celebrate the 65th birthday of Mati Abel. Tartu: Estonian Mathematical Society (ISBN 978-9985-9644-4-6/pbk). Mathematics Studies (Tartu) 4, 7--12 (2008; Zbl 1167.19001)], where he constructed new groups \(\overline{K_0}(R)\) and \(\overline{K_1}(R)\) for a ring \(R\). In the paper [Zbl 1167.19001], it was shown that the new groups coincide with the Grothendieck group \(K_0(R)\) and the Whitehead group \(K_1(R)\), respectively, in unital case but the case remained open for nonunital case. In the present paper, the authors porvide examples showing that in nonunital case the construction offered by Abel does not coincide with the classical constructions in general, and therefore defines new groups.