Lucasā Puzzle
mathematical puzzle
Quick Summary
The "Lucas' Puzzle" is more commonly known as the Tower of Hanoi. This classic puzzle, often attributed to French mathematician Ćdouard Lucas in 1883, involves three pegs and a set of disks of varying sizes. The objective is to move the entire stack of disks from one peg to another, following two rules: only one disk can be moved at a time, and a larger disk can never be placed on top of a smaller disk. The minimum number of moves required for n disks is given by the formula 2n - 1.12
Summary created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
2 Britannica Sources
Ask Britannica AI about this topic
Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.