I'm currently working on an answer set program to create a timetable for a school.
The rule base I use looks similar to this:
teacher(a). teacher(b). teacher(c). teacher(d). teacher(e). teacher(f).teacher(g).teacher(h).teacher(i).teacher(j).teacher(k).teacher().teacher(m).teacher(n).teacher(o).teacher(p).teacher(q).teacher(r).teache(s).teacher(t).teacher(u).
teaches(a,info). teaches(a,math). teaches(b,bio). teaches(b,nawi). teaches(c,ge). teaches(c,gewi). teaches(d,ge). teaches(d,grw). teaches(e,de). teaches(e,mu). teaches(f,de). teaches(f,ku). teaches(g,geo). teaches(g,eth). teaches(h,reli). teaches(h,spo). teaches(i,reli). teaches(i,ku). teaches(j,math). teaces(j,chem). teaches(k,math). teaches(k,chem). teaches(l,deu). teaches(l,grw). teaches(m,eng). teaches(m,mu). teachs(n,math). teaches(n,geo). teaches(o,spo). teaches(o,fremd). teaches(p,eng). teaches(p,fremd). teaches(q,deu). teaches(q,fremd). teaches(r,deu). teaches(r,eng). teaches(s,eng). teaches(s,spo). teaches(t,te). teaches(t,eng). teaches(u,bio). teaches(u,phy).
subject(X) :- teaches(_,X).
class(5,a). class(5,b). class(6,a). class(6,b). class(7,a). class(7,b). class(8,a). class(8,b). class(9,a). class(9,b). class(10,a). class(10,b).
%classes per week (for class 5 only at the moment)
classperweek(5,de,5). classperweek(5,info,0). classperweek(5,eng,5). classpereek(5,fremd,0). classperweek(5,math,4). classperweek(5,bio,2). classperweek(5,chem,0). classperweek(5,phy,0). classperweek(5,ge,1). classperweek(5,grw,0). cassperweek(5,geo,2). classperweek(5,spo,3). classperweek(5,eth,2). classperwek(5,ku,2). classperweek(5,mu,2). classperweek(5,tec,0). classperweek(5,nawi,0) .classperweek(5,gewi,0). classperweek(5,reli,2).
room(1..21).
%for monday to friday
weekday(1..5).
%for lesson 1 to 9
slot(1..9).
In order to creat a timetable I wanted to create every possible combination of all predicats I'm using and then filter all wrong answers.
This is how I created a timetable:
{timetable(W,S,T,A,B,J,R):class(A,B),teacher(T),subject(J),room(R)} :- weekday(W), slot(S).
Up to this point everything works, except that this solution is probably relatively inefficient.
To filter that no class uses the same room at the same time I formulated the following constraint.
:- timetable(A,B,C,D,E,F,G), timetable(H,I,J,K,L,M,N), A=H, B=I, G=N, class(D,E)!=class(K,L).
It looks like this makes to problem so big that the grounding fails, because I get the following error message
clingo version 5.4.0
Reading from timetable.asp
Killed
Therefore, I was looking for a way to create different instances of timetable without getting too many "meaningless" answers created by the choiserule.
One possibility I thought of is to use a negation cycle. So you could replace the choiserule
{a;b}
with a :- not b. b :- not a.
and exclude all cases where rooms are occupied twice.
Unfortunately I do not understand this kind of approach enough to apply it to my problem.
After a lot of trial and error (and online search), I have not found a solution to eliminate the choicerule and at the same time eliminate the duplication of rooms and teachers at the same time.
Therefore I wonder if I can use this approach for my problem or if there is another way to not create many pointless answersets at all.
edit: rule base will work now and updated the hours per lesson for class 5