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The puzzle has been analysed by many mathematicians and more recently computer scientists alike. It is particularly interesting because it's been shown that the process of removing the rings can be directly related to binary numbers. Known around the world as the Chinese Ring puzzle, or just the Chinese Rings, it's real name is Jiulianhuan but over the years it's also been know as Nine Linked Rings, The Linked Rings, Chinese Folk Rings, Devil's Needle and more.... In France they call it Baguenaudier, in Italy it's known as Anelli di Cardano or Cardano's Rings.
It is thought to have been invented originally in China. The origins are obscure. The ethnographer Stewart Culin related a tradition attributing the puzzle's invention to the 2nd/3rd century Chinese general Zhuge Liang. The name "Baguenaudier" is French for "time-waster". It was used by French peasants as a locking mechanism.
It is a disentanglement puzzle featuring a loop which must be disentangled from a sequence of rings on interlinked pillars. The loop can be either string or a rigid structure.
The Chinese Ring puzzle is a type types of "n-ary" puzzle meaning each move has "n" number of state - in this case 2 states being binary. These types of "n-ary" puzzles have either 2 states - binary, or 3 states - ternary, and more.
