distribute Periods in a school timetable

Peace to you all
I'm still new here but after I searched the forum I found great work done
for the needy like me.
So I'm so hopeful
I'm concerned with making a timetable for my school which we used to do it manually
I need a code to distribute each teacher timetable with the following basis:
the number of classes_ the teacher is assinged to work with_multiplied by the number of periods ( which is changeable ).
e.g ; Teacher 1 has 2 classes (1-1 &1-2). Each class should be visited 9 timea a week.
So Teacher 1 should work 18 periods a week
the distribution I need 'd look like the example in Sheet("timetable")
Please don't let me down
any help 'd be greately appreciated

Working out how many periods a teacher should work is trivial. On your front sheet you could do it with a simple formula...

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But you don't give any description of what alogorithm is meant to be used to distribute the periods across the week and they don't seem to fall into any particular pattern, so could you explain that a little more, please?

Hi Andrew
Thanks for trying to help

Working out how many periods a teacher should work is trivial. On your front sheet you could do it with a simple formula...

That was a very good suggestion. I did itat once

But you don't give any description of what alogorithm is meant to be used to distribute the periods across the week and they don't seem to fall into any particular pattern, so could you explain that a little more, please?

The most important basis I need is to distribute the periods in doubles.I mean every two periods should be neighboured ( 1-1 1-1 = = = 2-1 2-1) as soon as possible.
Also the distribution should be done with some kind of justice (fair enough)
Thanks again
awaiting your reply

The number one requirement for solving a problem in any coding language is ensuring that you understand the problem and can explain the solution to others. If you can't explain to another human the solution then you've got no chance of explaining it to a machine.

I mention this because, in your example, teacher 1 has 9 periods with 1-1 and 9 with 2-1, so if we say that the rules are:

#1 Where possible periods should be placed in pairs
#2 Where possible periods should alternate between the teacher's classes

The result for your example would be:

1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,2-1

So with 8 periods/day this would fill up 2.25 days of the 1st teacher's time, but I'm guessing it would fall foul of your justice/fairness rule, so what you need to do is explain how this rule operates.

I'm guessing that there are also other rules, e.g. that one class can't have different lessons with different teachers in the same period.

Assuming this then at some point in the near future this question is going to hit the P versus NP problem, where it becomes impossible to prove that an optimal solution can be found without computing all possible solutions, which means a great deal of processing time.

Hi again Andrew
So Sorry for lack of information

#1 Where possible periods should be placed in pairs

may be in period 1&2 or 4&5 or 6&7 there is no condition

#2 Where possible periods should alternate between the teacher's classes

alternate between the teacher's classes depends on the neighbouring classes
But it isn't that important (It's so luxury to care about that rule.

1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,1-1,2-1,2-1,1-1,2-1

It's impossible for any teacher to work more than three or four periods continuously.So the 18 periods for teacher 1 should be distributed over the whole weet work time.Each teacher should have free time to relax and prepare for other students with other attentions.
Finally each class ,of course,would be visited by more than three teachers a day.
Please ,Take care that there are teachers assinged to visit a class 1 time a week.
So sorry if there are still lack of information.
Please Don't be annoyed with me
Awaiting your reply

I'm not annoyed with you, it's just that before anybody tries writing code to solve this problem we should be absolutely clear as to the parameters of this solution.

Perhaps think of it this way - you said that previously this has been done manually. Imagine that the person who normally does it has to go on holiday and their boss has employed somebody with the IQ of a moderately bright cat to do the job while they're away and you've been put in charge of writing instructions for this person to follow. What would that list of instructions look like?

So happy that you aren't annoyed, Andrew

What would that list of instructions look like?

#1-Don't leave any class without a teacher in any period.= Urgent =
#2-Periods should be distributed in Pairs= as possible
#3-Keep an eye on the justice/fairness when distributing.i.e: Every teacher should work at the begining,middle and the end of the day.= as poosible=
#4-One class can't have different lessons with different teachers in the same period.
#5-A teacher won't be able to work efficiently with more than three or four periods continuously.=as poosible.
#6-Teachers must have time to relax and rest between periods.
I think these will be the instrucyions I 'll give.
You don't know how much time and effort you 'll save.
So curious about the outcome.
Awaiting !!!

OK, I'll have a think about it, but please be aware this isn't a trivial couple-of-lines-of-code sort of solution, this is really quite a serious bit of coding.

Hi once more Andrew
I Know it's a great descipline of ideas,a great thinking and a great creativity Needed to acheive what I ask for.Hope you could acheive & I'm sure you can.
Again

You don't know how much time and effort you 'll save.
So curious about the outcome.
Awaiting !!!

Awaiting and dreaming.
Thanks in advance.

I'll do my best, but I spent an hour or so thinking about this last night and didn't get anything other than a headache. I've handled similar problems in the past and I'd warn you that even if I do get my head around the problem the final code will be:

a. Massive
b. Incomprehensible
c. Slow

If this is something that you really need then you're probably best off paying somebody to do the development for you so that you can then have them support the code, fix bugs and make any changes you need.

Hi once more Andrew
So Sorry to bother & get you troubles.
You can get around or ignore tyes marked= as possible) in my instructions.

the final code will be:

a. Massive
b. Incomprehensible
c. Slow

For me,it'd be a great work.
If you have done all that work manually in my school,you'd have accepted the code anyway happily.
Awaiting & curious
So sorry & So grateful.

To me this sounds like a typical Solver problem.

http://www.solver.com/schcenter.htm

Perhaps shg will have a go at it as his Solver "know how" is secend to none in this forum.

Hi all
teylyn

FWIW, working out time tables for teachers according to efficiency rules is, and has been, a major headache.

Seems like What you say.I didn't know
So many thanks for Andrew's thinking & help

There are commercial software packages that do the job. It's no wonder you have to pay for them

I'm still awaiting Andrew's code

Originally Posted by TOTO_POP

I'm still awaiting Andrew's code

Please don't hold your breath while you're waiting, it's a pretty big bit of work and I've got a day job to do as well.

Whereabouts in Egypt are you? My daughter (10 years old) says that her best holiday ever was in Egypt.

bump
Just to remind

I haven't forgotten, but, please, this isn't a trivial problem. I may get some time to think about it tomorrow, but it really is a tricky one.

Thanks for the offer of taking my daughter off my hand, though. She'll be on the next Newcastle -> Cairo flight

Hi Andrew

I haven't forgotten, but, please, this isn't a trivial problem. I may get some time to think about it tomorrow, but it really is a tricky one.

Please take your time.

Thanks for the offer of taking my daughter off my hand, though. She'll be on the next Newcastle -> Cairo flight

Welcome to Cairo.Is ther any thing I can do ,Though I'm not there !!

Hi shg
Welcome to my thread.I hope you find it interesting enough to activate your mind & enhance your Excel abilities

What does the notation "1-1", "2-1", ... mean?

They are names for our classes,

1-1 ( 1 - A ) the first 1 is a symbol for the first year
the second 1 is a symbol for Room 1
Hope I'm clear enough

bump
Just to remind

bump once more
Just to remind or find another master to help
Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease

I haven't forgotten about you, honest, but I also haven't been struck with any great inspiration as to how this should be done. I've played around with it when I've had some time spare, but I think it requires far more planning than I've got time to do.

I don't want to let you down, but I really don't think I'm the person you're looking for. Somebody else on here may take this on (it is, however, a really big favour to ask), but I think you'd be better off paying somebody to do this, which might at least encourage them to spend some proper time on it.

Sorry.

Hi Andrew_R
I really appreciate your try to help me and the time you spent thinking about my code.
and I really respect the way you say " Sorry " which you don't have to say at all.

but I think you'd be better off paying somebody to do this, which might at least encourage them to spend some proper time on it.

Seems I should follow your advice.
Anyhow .Thank you So Much
Bye