‘Slack’ is the amount of time you have that is measured from when an event ‘actually happens’ and when it ‘must HAPPEN’.. The TERM ‘actually happens’ can also be TAKEN as being a predicted time for when the event will ‘actually happen’.

When something ‘must happen’ can also be CALLED a ‘deadline’ so another definition of slack would be the time from when something ‘actually happens’ (call this Tact) until the deadline (call this Tdead).

Slack = Tdead – Tact.

Negative slack implies that the ‘actually happen’ time is later than the ‘deadline’ time…in other WORDS it’s too late and a timing violation….you have a timing problem that needs some attention.

‘Slack’ is the amount of time you have that is measured from when an event ‘actually happens’ and when it ‘must happen’.. The term ‘actually happens’ can also be taken as being a predicted time for when the event will ‘actually happen’.

When something ‘must happen’ can also be called a ‘deadline’ so another definition of slack would be the time from when something ‘actually happens’ (call this Tact) until the deadline (call this Tdead).

Slack = Tdead – Tact.

Negative slack implies that the ‘actually happen’ time is later than the ‘deadline’ time…in other words it’s too late and a timing violation….you have a timing problem that needs some attention.