The tower of Hanoi was a very interesting way to learn about mathematical induction. By solving the ancient puzzle, we were able to understand recursive formulas and practice our finding the general formulas. According to the legend, a bunch of Brahmin priests found a temple with three posts surrounded by 64 gold disks. The prophecy explained that when the puzzle would be completed, the world would end. There are a certain set of rules, only one disk can be moved at a time, they have to be in decreasing order from top to bottom, and you can only take the top disk from the pile when moving. Whilst trying to solve the puzzle, I noticed a certain pattern. In order to get the rings to the last pole, I had to put the first ring on the middle rung and then larger one on the last. This would allow me to place them in increasing size order. The number of moves can be determined by the formula (2^n)-1. This formula will work for any number of disks, and with this formula we can calculate that the priests would have to be doing the puzzle for 585 billion years. At least now we know that the world is safe!
