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Conference rusure::math

Title:	Mathematics at DEC

Moderator:	RUSURE::EDP

Created:	Mon Feb 03 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	2083
Total number of notes:	14613

810.0. "Tower Location" by LABC::FRIEDMAN () Tue Jan 05 1988 14:39

    There is a famous problem in computer science called the "Towers
    of Hanoi."  Is the Hanoi referred to
    
    
                1.  A Greek placename, actually spelled "Hano�," with a
                    dieresis over the "i"?
                                          
                2.  The capital of Vietnam?

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
810.1		CHOVAX::YOUNG	Back from the Shadows Again,	`Thu Jan 07 1988 12:57`	2
	As the problem comes from (I believe) a Buddhist legend, I would suspect that it is in fact refering to the Capital of Vietnam.
810.2	N Vietnam	COMICS::DEMORGAN	Richard De Morgan, UK CSC/CS	`Tue Feb 16 1988 10:14`	8
	It does indeed refer to the capital of N Vietnam. If I recall the details, the legend refers to a sect of monks who laboured underground transferring the disks (14 deep, if I recall, made of gold) between diamond pins some 10" high. When they completed their task, the world was suppose to end. For reference, try James R Newman's "The World of Mathematics", or E T Bell's "The Last Problem". As using n disks requires 2^n - 1 moves, the world probably has a bit to run yet :-)