In 1958 Eilenberg [5] showed that the Cartan matrix C (A) of a left artinian ring A of finite (left) global dimension must satisfy det C(A) = + 1. But it is not yet known whether there are any left artinian rings of finite global dimension whose Cartan determinants are -1. The Cartan determinant problem is the question whether for a left artinian ring of finite global dimension the determinant of the Cartan matrix is necessarily 1. Concerning this problem it is known that the determinant of the Cartan matrix is I for any of the following left artinian rings of finite global dimension: positively graded algebras over a field [10], left artinian rings whose radical cube is zero or, more generally, Cartan filtered rings [7], left artinian rings whose global dimension is smaller than 3 Moreover, we shall show how this relation implies the results mentioned above. Throughout this paper, alI rings are left artinian basic rings, and modules are finitely generated left modules.