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vn1234
I always wanted to ask this, but forgot until I read the đố vui thread. It's about the towers of Hà Nội - are they a Việt invention of foreign game but named after the city for some reason?

Nero874
I've read it was a mind exercise for Buddhist monks, so I guess that's where it originated from.
Byron
lol no. It was invented by a Frenchmen. lol we studied this puzzle for my discrete mathematics course at University.
lthv22
Tower of Hanoi courtesy of goodle beerchug.gif
vn1234
@Nero974 - sounds interesting

@Byron - do you happen to have any links are articles about the history of its development Byron, ima intersted in how it was named after the city
Huynh
hey i readed this in an article once that it siad vietnam have an old game that something kind of like soccer i think but i forgot the name of the game tho
Byron
QUOTE (vn1234 @ Aug 2 2004, 08:14 PM)
@Nero974 - sounds interesting

@Byron - do you happen to have any links are articles about the history of its development Byron, ima intersted in how it was named after the city

I have the history of it in my math textbook. Here it is.

"The Tower of Hanoi"

According to legend, a certain Hindu temple contains three thin diamond poles on one of which, at the time of creation, God placed 64 golden disks that decrease in size as they rise from the base.

*Actually the Tower of Hanoi puzzle was invented in 1883 by the French mathematician Edouard Lucas, who made up the legend to accompany it.
DAI_VIET
Hehehe... I remember this problem in my math text book in 7th grade.
lthv22
^ I thought that it was some Buddhist monks (either Indian or Tibetan) who was trying to save the world from great calamity by solving this riddle via moving these disks around as described in the algorithm in the web link
vn1234
@lthv22 - yeah thanks for the link, but still on that page nothing is noted of why the name Ha Noi is used

@Byron - i see so he made it to accompany his game, but how did he derive Ha Noi from a Hindu story
Johannjs
There's nothing to do with Hanoi. The French people dislike complicate long names. Professor Lucas came back from Hanoi, Tonkin, where he invented it, so the game was renamed for short "La Tour de Hanoï", thus still keeping some exoticism. Anyway, original namings were made up of anagrams.

QUOTE
"It is perhaps surprising that the origin of the Tower of Hanoi puzzle is still debated...."

Lucas marketed it from 1883 as 'The authentic brain-teaser of the Annamites, a game brought back from Tonkin by Prof. N. Claus of Siam, Mandarin of the College of Li-Sou-Tsian'

QUOTE
"N. CLAUS DE SIAM professeur à LI-SOU-TSIAN", anagramme de "LUCAS D'AMIENS professeur à SAINT-LOUIS".

There are two anagrams in the French: Lucas was born in Amiens, so "N.Claus d'Amiens" is Lucas; meanwhile "Li-Sou-Tsian" is an anagram for Saint Louis.

The exoticisms and in-jokes continue in the instructions, which start

"This game was found, for the first time, in the writings of the illustrious Mandarin FER-FER-TAM-TAM, which are to be published sooner or later, by order of the government of China."

Lucas regarded Fermat as 'one of the greatest geniuses of mankind' and was on the commission for the publication of Fermat's works. From these, it seems unlikely that anyone other than Lucas came up with the puzzle. There is one persistent legend concerning the origin of the Tower of Hanoi.

In "Récréations Mathématiques" (trò vui toán học, Let's Play with Maths), however, Lucas wrote that the legend and the puzzle itself had both been thought up "recently" in Paris, and at the same time that (his nephew) Raoul Olive was the nephew of the inventor

The legend? One version of the story is that under the dome of the great temple at Benares (in India), there are three needles fixed in a brass plate. The Creator placed a sixty-four disk tower on one of these needles at the Creation. Priests transfer disks according to the sacred rules, and when all sixty-four disks have been transferred to another needle, the Tower and Brahmins will fall and the world come to an end.

Thus the puzzle is sometimes known as the Tower of Brahma or the End of the World puzzle. Now a sixty-four disc tower requires M64= 264- 1 > 1019 moves before it is reassembled on another peg. One move each second (and no mistakes) would see the task completed in more than 500 billion years, whatever that means.
minikensun
Oh, I never heard about it. I only know Tower of Hn as a building, not a game. Its name is Hanoi tower. Its so big. embarassedlaugh.gif Its a part of Hoa? Lo`. (prison)
Johannjs
QUOTE (minikensun @ Aug 3 2004, 08:55 AM)
Oh, I never heard about it. I only know Tower of Hn as a building, not a game. Its name is Hanoi tower. Its so big. embarassedlaugh.gif Its a part of Hoa? Lo`. (prison)

I think you mean the "Hanoi Hilton" in stories by the POW?
minikensun
no, It's not Hilston. It's Hanoi Tower. embarassedlaugh.gif Hanoi has both them. Hilton and hanoi Tower.
Johannjs
QUOTE (minikensun @ Aug 3 2004, 09:08 AM)
no, It's not Hilston. It's Hanoi Tower. embarassedlaugh.gif Hanoi has both them. Hilton and hanoi Tower.

So! May I ask, which one has got your preference? icon_smile.gif

EDIT: I've found your Hanoi Tower! beerchug.gif

Hanoi Tours & Travel Information ( Dragon Travel Vietnam )
http://www.optiontours.com/v_facts1.html
QUOTE
Maison Centrale. The Hoa Lo Prison was given the name Hanoi Hilton by American prisoners of war held here during the Vietnam War. According to the North Vietnamese, these soldiers were not covered by the Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of war prisoners because America never officially declared war on Vietnam. This infamous prison, was built by the French in the early twentieth century and continued to be used as a prison up until fairly recently.

minikensun
I dont know. embarassedlaugh.gif But Ha Noi has 2 different buildings: HN Tower (at Hai Ba Trung street) and Hilton (at Le Thanh Tong street). R u sure your information is well believed? cool30.gif
Johannjs
QUOTE (minikensun @ Aug 4 2004, 08:15 AM)
I dont know. embarassedlaugh.gif But Ha Noi has 2 different buildings: HN Tower (at Hai Ba Trung street) and Hilton (at Le Thanh Tong street). R u sure your information is well believed? cool30.gif

I've re-read it. In fact there is only one prison Hoa Lo, with both of those nicknamings (Hanoi Hilton and Hanoi Tower). As for the names of the streets you mention, I don't know and cannot confirm. They also might have changed, since the last time that you last were there - when was it? Is that so important after all?
arun
So that's where the name of the game came from. nice!!!!!!!!!
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