Editing Tower of Hanoi (section)

== Origins ==
The puzzle was invented by the French [[mathematician]] [[Édouard Lucas]], first presented in 1883 as a game discovered by "N. Claus (de Siam)" (an anagram of "Lucas d'Amiens"),<ref name="hinz13">{{cite book | title=The Tower of Hanoi – Myths and Maths|title-link= The Tower of Hanoi – Myths and Maths | isbn= 978-3034802369| last1= Hinz| first1= Andreas M.| last2= Klavžar| first2= Sandi| last3= Milutinović| first3= Uroš| last4= Petr| first4= Ciril| date= 2013-01-31|publisher= Springer }}</ref><ref name="stockmeyer05">{{cite web |last1=Stockmeyer |first1=Paul K. |title=The Tower of Hanoi: A Bibliography |url=https://www.cs.wm.edu/~pkstoc/biblio2.pdf |access-date=2024-02-21}}</ref><ref name="parville83">{{cite news |last1=de Parville |first1=Henri |title=Revue des Sciences |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k462461g/f2.item.zoom |access-date=2024-02-21 |work=Journal des débats |date=1883-12-27}}</ref> and later published as a booklet in 1889<ref>{{cite book | first = Édouard | last = Lucas | author-link = Édouard Lucas | title = Jeux scientifiques pour servir à l'histoire, à l'enseignement et à la pratique du calcul et du dessin | publisher = Chambon et Baye | date = 1889| language = fr | location = Paris | url = https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3943s/f272 | access-date = 2024-01-27}}</ref> and in a posthumously-published volume of Lucas' ''Récréations mathématiques''.<ref>{{ cite book | first = Édouard | last = Lucas | author-link = Édouard Lucas | title =  Récréations mathématiques | volume = 3 | year = 1892 | language = fr | publisher = Librairie Albert Blanchard, 1979 | page = 58 |  url = https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3945d/f64}}</ref> Accompanying the game was an instruction booklet, describing the game's purported origins in [[Tonkin]], and claiming that according to legend [[Brahmins]] at a temple in [[Benares]] have been carrying out the movement of the "Sacred Tower of [[Brahma]]", consisting of sixty-four golden disks, according to the same rules as in the game, and that the completion of the tower would lead to the end of the world.<ref name="stockmeyerinst">{{cite web |last1=Stockmeyer |first1=Paul K. |title=Tower of Hanoi instructions in English, page 1 |url=https://www.cs.wm.edu/~pkstoc/page_1.html|access-date=2024-02-21}}</ref> Numerous variations on this legend exist, regarding the ancient and mystical nature of the puzzle.<ref name="hinz13" />

If the legend were true, and if the priests were able to move disks at a rate of one per second, using the smallest number of moves, it would take them 2<sup>64</sup>&nbsp;−&nbsp;1 seconds or roughly 585 [[1,000,000,000|billion]] years to finish,<ref>{{cite book |last=Moscovich |first=Ivan |author-link=Ivan Moscovich |title=1000 playthinks: puzzles, paradoxes, illusions & games |publisher=Workman |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-7611-1826-8 }}</ref> which is about 42 times the estimated current [[age of the universe]].

There are many variations on this legend. For instance, in some back stories, the temple is a [[monastery]], and the priests are [[monk]]s. The temple or monastery may be in various locales including [[Hanoi]], and may be associated with any [[religion]]. In some versions, other elements are introduced, such as the fact that the tower was created at the beginning of the world, or that the priests or monks may make only one move per day.