Tower of Hanoi problem

21st January 2000, 12:00am

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Tower of Hanoi problem

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/tower-hanoi-problem
In a legendary city in the ancient East monks in a temple have to move a pile of 64 sacred disks from one place to another. The disks are fragile: only one can be carried at a time. A disk may not be placed on top of a smaller, less valuable disk. There is a third place in the temple sacred enough for a pile of disks to be placed there, but that’s all. The monks start moving disks between the original pile, the pile at the new place, and the intermediate point, always keeping the largest discs on the bottom and the smallest on the top. The legend says that before the monks make the final move to complet the new pile in the new location, the temple will turn to dust and the world will end. Is there any truth to this legend? In a game based on this legend, you have a small collection of disks and three piles (in the physical version of this game, you place disks with holes in the middle onto posts). The disks all start on the left-hand pile, and you want to move them to the right-hand pile. Because you may never put a disk on top of a smaller one , you have the middle pile for your intermediate resting place as you move discs back and forth.

www.math.toronto.edumathnetgamestowers.html


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