These terms might seem hard to understand. Patterns and translating these in mathematical formulas. Recursive solutions, where you use information from one step to find the next step Iterative solutions, where the same sequence of instructions is repeated over and over If you try to explain how you solve the puzzle, you might realize you use one of the following mathematical concepts: As you play the game with more and more disks, you will notice you start to look for patterns. You might wonder how mathematics is involved in playing this game. That is more than 40 times the age of the universe! Using mathematics, you can calculate that even when the priests found the most efficient way to solve the problem, and moved the disks at a rate of one per second, it would take almost 585 billion years to finish the job. The priests' goal was to re-create the stack on a different post by moving disks, one at a time, to another post with the rule that a larger disk could never be placed on top of a smaller disk. Each disk rested on a slightly larger disk. In the legend the young priests were given 64 gold disks stacked neatly on one of three posts. It is associated with a legend of a Hindu temple where the puzzle was supposedly used to increase the mental discipline of young priests. The tower of Hanoi (also called the tower of Brahma or the Lucas tower) was invented by a French mathematician Édouard Lucas in the 19th century. But math can also be used for entertainment-mathematical games, riddles, challenges and puzzles are also interwoven throughout history! Throughout history mathematics has fulfilled many practical needs such as measuring plots of land, studying astronomy and calculating taxes. People have been playing these games and puzzles for centuries! They are fun, entertaining and sometimes useful. Think about simple games such as tic-tac-toe, more strategic games such as chess or math puzzles such as sudoku. Are you tired of math work sheets and homework? Did you know that there are more creative ways to exercise your mathematical muscle? A lot of games, puzzles and riddles revolve around mathematical concepts.