The Chinese Rings Puzzle

The Chinese rings (or baguenaudier) is one of the oldest known mechanical puzzles. The object of the game is to remove all of the rings from the horizontal loop of handle.
Rules: the rings are interlocked so that only two basic types of move are possible.
1) The rightmost ring can be removed or replaced at any time;
2) Any other ring can be removed or replaced if and only if the ring to its right is on the handle and all rings to the right of that one are off.
The current state of ring can be represented in binary notation, writing 1 if a ring is on the handle and 0 if it is off. The solution uses the binary Gray code.

(26 lines omitted)

Reference:
[1] D. E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 4, New York: Addison-Wesley, 2001 pp. 5–6.
[2] H. L. Wu, The Three Classical Puzzle of China, Beijing: Science Press, 2004 pp. 143–186.
comments
Interact with Demonstrations using the latest version of the free Mathematica Player—Download Now


Share & Bookmark This Demonstration


 
Powered by Wolfram Mathematica
Give us your feedback
Give us your feedback

Source page:




 often  occasionally  never

Note: Please do not include anything you consider confidential or proprietary. Your message and contact information may be shared with the author of any specific Demonstration for which you give feedback, but will not otherwise be published or distributed.
Privacy Policy »

Note: To run this Demonstration you need the free
Mathematica Player
or Mathematica 7+
Download or upgrade to Mathematica Player 7
I already have Mathematica Player or Mathematica 7+