1. What is Round Robin Scheduling?

Round Robin is a CPU scheduling algorithm where each process is assigned a fixed time slot (quantum) in cyclic order. It's one of the most commonly used algorithms due to its fairness and simplicity.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses the Round Robin scheduling formula:

Where:

• \( \text{Burst Time} \) — Time required by a process for CPU execution
• \( \text{Quantum} \) — Fixed time slice allocated to each process
• \( \sum \) — Summation of waiting times for all processes

Explanation: The waiting time for each process is calculated as its burst time minus the quantum (minimum 0), and then summed for all processes.

3. Importance of Waiting Time Calculation

Details: Calculating waiting time helps evaluate the efficiency of the scheduling algorithm and system performance. Lower waiting times generally indicate better CPU utilization and fairness.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter burst times as comma-separated values (e.g., "10,5,8") and a positive integer quantum. The calculator will compute total and average waiting times.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What is the ideal quantum size?
A: Typically between 10-100 milliseconds. Too large reduces to FCFS, too small increases context switches.

Q2: How does Round Robin compare to other algorithms?
A: More fair than FCFS or SJF, but may have higher average waiting time than SJF in some cases.

Q3: What is context switching overhead?
A: The time taken to save/load process states during switches, which isn't accounted for in this simple calculation.

Q4: Can processes have different priorities?
A: Basic Round Robin treats all processes equally. Priority Round Robin variants exist.

Q5: How accurate is this simulation?
A: This provides basic waiting time calculation. Real implementations consider more factors like I/O bursts.