The Tower of Hanoi (sometimes referred to as the Tower of Brahma or the End of the
World Puzzle) was invented by the French mathematician, Edouard Lucas, in 1883. He
was inspired by a legend that tells of a Hindu temple where the pyramid puzzle might have
been used for the mental discipline of young priests.
In the great temple of Benares ... beneath the dome which marks
the center of the world, rests a brass plate in which are fixed
three diamond needles, each a cubit high and as thick as the
body of a bee. On one of these needles, at the creation, god
placed 64 disks of pure gold, the largest disk resting on the brass
plate, and the others getting smaller and smaller up to the top
one. This is the Tower of Bramah. Day and night unceasingly
the priests transfer the disks from one diamond needle to the
other ... When the 64 disks shall have been thus transferred
from the needle on which at the creation God placed them to
one of the other needles, then tower, temple, and Brahmins alike
will crumble into dust, and with a thunderclap the world will
vanish.
The game allows you to try to solve the puzzle yourself, but not with
64 disks! That would take way too much time. You have your choice of from
1 to 8 disks. Just move the disks from column 1 to column 3,
never putting a larger disk on top of a smaller one.
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