Towers of Hanoi - Özgür and Alana Selsil

27th April 2002
A group of monks in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, are the keepers of three towers on which 64 golden rings sit. Originally all 64 rings were stacked on one tower with each ring smaller than the one beneath. The monks are to move the rings from this first tower to the third tower one at a time but never moving a larger ring on top of a smaller one. Once the 64 rings have all been moved, the world will come to an end. In the presentation, a slightly simpler version of this puzzle is looked at, with just three rings instead of 64. How can the puzzle be solved, and what is the best way of doing it - ie. what is the minimum number of steps needed to move three discs from the first to the third tower. Can a pattern be found, and is it possible to predict how many moves are necessary to complete the monks' problem above?