Selenite Towers Move Faster Than Hanoï Towers, But Still Require Exponential Time

DOI10.4230/LIPICS.FUN.2016.5MaRDI QIDQ5282801zbMATHOpenAlexFDO

Authors Jérémy Barbay

Publication date 17 July 2017

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03934

zbMATH Keywords

recursivityBrähma towerdisk pileHanoï towerlevitating towerSelenite tower

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Analysis of algorithms and problem complexity (68Q25)

Abstract: The problem of the Hanoi Tower is a classic exercise in recursive programming: the solution has a simple recursive definition, and its complexity and the matching lower bound are the solution of a simple recursive function (the solution is so easy that most students memorize it and regurgitate it at exams without truly understanding it). We describe how some very minor changes in the rules of the Hanoi Tower yield various increases of complexity in the solution, so that they require a deeper analysis than the classical Hanoi Tower problem while still yielding exponential solutions. In particular, we analyze the problem fo the Bouncing Tower, where just changing the insertion and extraction position from the top to the middle of the tower results in a surprising increase of complexity in the solution: such a tower of $n$ disks can be optimally moved in $sqrt{3}^n$ moves for $n$ even (i.e. less than a Hanoi Tower of same height), via $5$ recursive functions (or, equivalently, one recursion function with $5$ states).

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