
2025-06-09 08:42:58
in the recent "Illusion of Thinking" paper, they use puzzles like Towers of Hanoi and show that an LLM has trouble doing n=8 Hanoi correctly, even when told an algorithm to solve it.
every compsci-adjacent person cites the recursive algorithm, because it's a cute example of recursion. but there's a very simple non-recursive algorithm for any size Hanoi:
- move the smallest disk clockwise.
- move the only other disk that can move.
- repeat.
most hu…