prompter: I have five people I need to sit around a circular table. Let's call them A,B,C,D and E. They do have some seating preferences though.

- A wants to sit next to E
- C wants to sit next to A or D
- D wants to sit next to E and B
- B does not want to sit next to C

Can you find me an arrangement of the seats for these people?

assistant: Unfortunately, it is not possible to find a circular arrangement around a table that would satisfy all of these conditions.

- If D wants to sit next to E and B, we have to start with something like B, D, E. (The alternative is E, D, B, but since the arrangement will be circular, the order in which they are given here does not matter.)
- A wants to be next to E, so we have B, D, E, A.
- C wants to be placed next to A or D, but D has no neighboring seats left, and placing C next to A would also have them end up next to B (C, B, D, E, A), who does not want to be next to C.

It is possible to obey the majority of these conditions, but not all of them at once. You would have to decide which of these criteria to break to make the arrangement work out. Good luck!

prompter: Okay, can you find me an arrangement if B doesn't mind who sits next to them?

prompter: If D was satisfied with only sitting next to E or B (not requiring both), would that make the arrangement possible?

prompter: Okay, thanks.

Can you give me a solution that respects the highest number of conditions, with the lower conditions being less important?

Alternatively, give me a solution that respects all but the first condition.

assistant: For this setting it is not possible to find an arrangement satisfying all the given constraints.
I can show you why:

First of all let me notice some symmetries of the problem:
1. None of the constraints or part of the setting talk about fixed positions. So there is rotational invariance, all people in an allowed arrangement could move a number of seats left or right (everyone the same amount) and the resulting arrangement would still be allowed.
2. None of the constraints of part of the setting talk about left or right, only about their neighbors in general. Therefore, there is a mirror invariance as well, which is equivalent to reversing an arrangement. 

These two symmetries allow us to fix the position of one person and the direction of one of the neighboring constraints without loss of generality: A is sitting at position $1$.
So, our initial setting is: A____

Let us now iterate over the constraints and add allowed possibilities. We take constraints into account in a way that leaves the minimal number of possibilities for settings.
1. As we have the position of A fixed, the first constraint is the one leaving the least ambiguity. Remember that for one constraint we can fix the direction of neighborhood as well. So we seat E at position $2$.
The arrangement up to now is: AE___
2. We now take the third constraint into account as it is based on E's position in an unambiguous way. D wants to sit next to E, while A is already occupying one of the two possible seats, so D can only sit on position $3$. There is also a second aspect to this constraint, as D wants to sit next to B as well. As one of the possible seats is occupied with E, B has to sit on position $4$. The resulting arrangement is:
AEDB_
3. Now the only left-over seat at position $5$ cannot be occupied by C as this violates the fourth constraint: B does not want to sit next to C.

As we didn't fix any positions in a way beyond the given constraints and existing symmetries, this means that it is unfortunately not possible to find an arrangement satisfying all the possible constraints.

assistant: 1. We start with A and E sitting next to each other as follows, preserving generality since the table is circular:
A-E

2. We add D, who wants to sit next to E and B, to the table. Since there is only one spot next to E, we know that D must go there. We must now add B to the right of D in order to meet D's preference. We now have:
A-E-D-B

3. We add C who wants to sit next to A or D. Since D is already sitting next to 2 people, we must add C next to A as follows:
C-A-E-D-B

However this violates B's seating preference, as B is now sitting next to C. Therefore no seating arrangement is possible.

prompter: Oh no! What if D will have to sit next to either E or B instead of both?

assistant: Starting with the option that gives us the most information, D will sit next to E and B, the order doesn't matter as it is a round table:
EDB
A wants to sit near E, so:
AEDB
However, now we cannot sit C near D because that place is full, and we cannot sit C near A, because sitting C near A would mean B would have to sit with C.
Therefor, there is no arrangment where everyone is happy.

assistant: One of many possible arrangements is: C,A,E,D,B. Or it's symmetric variant B,D,E,A,C. Would you like a different arrangement?

prompter: Since the table is circular, C sits next to B.
Can you provide a different arrangement?

prompter: How can I verify this answer is correct? can you provide some kind of table to check all constraints are really satisfied?

assistant: Placing people to proper seats is a common problem and is often confronted for example when doing a wedding plan.
I have one solution for you, i hope this helps.

B - D - E - A - C

In this arrangement, A sits next to E, C sits next to A, D sits next to both E and B, and B does not sit next to C.