Bezout rings of stable range 1.5 (Q326032)

The study of stable range for rings was initiated by \textit{H. Bass} in the 1960's [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 22, 489--544 (1964; Zbl 0248.18025)]. A ring \(R\) is said to have stable range \(2\) if, for any left relatively prime elements \(a, b\), and \(c\) from \(R\), there exist \(r_1\) and \(r_2\) from \(R\) such that the elements \(a+cr_1\) and \(b+cr_2\) are left relatively prime. If the property of left relative primality of the elements \(a\) and \(b\) yields the existence of \(r\) such that \(a + br\) is the identity of the ring \(R\), then it is said that \(R\) has stable range \(1\). Thus the author defines stable range \(1.5\) to be any ring \(R\) with the property that for each triple of left nonzero relatively prime elements \(a, b\), and \(c\) from \(R\), there exists \(r \in R\) such that the elements \(a + br\) and \(c\) are left relatively prime. It is known that if \(R\) is a commutative, Bézout domain (every finitely generated ideal is principal), then \(R\) has stable range \(2\), but not conversely. The article is interested in studying the relationship between rings with stable range \(1.5\) and the stable range of two by two matrices over \(R\), i.e. \(M_2(R)\). It is shown that if \(R\) has stable range \(1.5\), then we also have \(M_2(R)\) also has stable range \(1.5\). The author also shows the converse statement is also true: if \(R\) is Bézout and \(M_2(R)\) has stable range \(1.5\), then \(R\) has stable range \(1.5\).