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12 December

The determinant of the 2 by 2 matrix \(\begin{pmatrix}a&b\\c&d\end{pmatrix}\) is \(ad-bc\).
If a 2 by 2 matrix's entries are all in the set \(\{1, 2, 3\}\), the largest possible deteminant of this matrix is 8.
What is the largest possible determinant of a 2 by 2 matrix whose entries are all in the set \(\{1, 2, 3, ..., 12\}\)?

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