A study of university timetabling that blends graph coloring with the satisfaction of various essential and preferential conditions

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dc.contributor.advisorDean, Nathanielen_US
dc.contributor.advisorTapia, Richard A.en_US
dc.creatorRedl, Timothy Antonen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T08:38:40Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-04T08:38:40Zen_US
dc.date.issued2004en_US
dc.description.abstractConstructing a satisfactory conflict-free semester-long timetable of courses and creating a similarly satisfactory conflict-free timetable for end-of-semester final examinations are two closely related and often difficult problems that colleges and universities face each semester. We discuss the relevance of such timetabling problems as a natural and practical application of graph coloring, and develop a mathematical and computational model for solving university timetabling problems using techniques of graph coloring that incorporates the satisfaction of both "essential" timetabling conditions (i.e., conditions or constraints that must be satisfied in order to produce a legal or feasible timetable) as well as suggested "preferential" timetabling conditions (i.e., additional conditions or constraints that need not necessarily be satisfied to produce a legal or legitimate timetable, but if satisfied may very well produce a more "acceptable" timetable for students and/or faculty members). We discuss in detail the step-by-step process that is taken to implement our timetabling-by-graph-coloring procedure, from the assembling of university course data, to creating a course conflict graph based on the assembled data, to coloring the conflict graph, to transforming this coloring to a conflict-free timetable, to finally assigning courses to classrooms. Once a conflict-free timetable of courses has been constructed, we present ways in which such a course timetable for a particular semester can be used to construct a conflict-free timetable of final examinations. Our model also considers a number of sociological scheduling concerns and preferences addressed by university registrars, faculty, staff, and students. Computational results, obtained by the author using actual data provided by Rice University and the University of St. Thomas, are documented.en_US
dc.format.extent159 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS MATH.SCI. 2004 REDLen_US
dc.identifier.citationRedl, Timothy Anton. "A study of university timetabling that blends graph coloring with the satisfaction of various essential and preferential conditions." (2004) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18687">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18687</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/18687en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectMathematicsen_US
dc.titleA study of university timetabling that blends graph coloring with the satisfaction of various essential and preferential conditionsen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentMathematical Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineEngineeringen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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