The request
Schedule workshop tasks to finish E earliest
Read the full request
Solve an operations-research scheduling problem. Deliver the answer directly as a planning analysis in your final response: a timetable, feasibility checks and an optimality proof. Do not create or modify any files, write a script, build an application, start a server or access the internet. The work product is reasoning, not software or a generated document.
The workshop has two resources M1 and M2; each can perform at most one task at a time. Time starts at zero. Tasks are non-preemptive and cannot start before all predecessors finish:
A: duration 2, resource M1, no predecessor.
B: duration 3, resource M2, predecessor A.
C: duration 2, resource M1, predecessor A.
D: duration 2, resource M1, predecessors B and C.
E: duration 1, resource M2, predecessor D.
Minimize the finish time of E. Show an explicit table with task, resource, start and finish. Check each task duration, every precedence edge and resource non-overlap with numerical inequalities. Give a lower-bound proof from a precedence chain and show the schedule attains it. Distinguish the proof of optimality from merely finding a feasible schedule. Keep the response self-contained.
The result
## Timetable
| Task | Resource | Start | Finish |
|---|---|---:|---:|
| A | M1 | 0 | 2 |
| B | M2 | 2 | 5 |
| C | M1 | 2 | 4 |
| D | M1 | 5 | 7 |
| E | M2 | 7 | 8 |
## Feasibility Audit
**Durations:**
- A: 2 − 0 = 2
- B: 5 − 2 = 3
- C: 4 − 2 = 2
- D: 7 − 5 = 2
- E: 8 − 7 = 1
All durations are correct.
**Precedence constraints:**
- A→B: finish(A) = 2 ≤ start(B) = 2
- A→C: finish(A) = 2 ≤ start(C) = 2
- B→D: finish(B) = 5 ≤ start(D) = 5
- C→D: finish(C) = 4 ≤ start(D) = 5
- D→E: finish(D) = 7 ≤ start(E) = 7
**Resource non-overlap:**
- M1, A before C: intervals [0,2] and [2,4], with 2 ≤ 2.
- M1, A before D: intervals [0,2] and [5,7], with 2 ≤ 5.
- M1, C before D: intervals [2,4] and [5,7], with 4 ≤ 5.
- M2, B before E: intervals [2,5] and [7,8], with 5 ≤ 7.
There are no feasibility violations. E’s finish is independently recomputed as start(E) + duration(E) = 7 + 1 = 8.
## Optimality Proof
This is separate from feasibility. Every feasible schedule must execute the precedence chain A→B→D→E sequentially. Since time starts at zero, that chain gives the universal lower bound:
2 + 3 + 2 + 1 = 8.
Thus every feasible schedule must satisfy finish(E) ≥ 8. The proposed feasible schedule has finish(E) = 8, so it attains the lower bound and is therefore optimal.
Time2 min 59 s
Cost$0.07
Finished2026-10-02