John never knew he had a grand-uncle, until he received the notary’s letter. He learned that his late grand-uncle had gathered a lot of money, somewhere in South-America, and that John was the only inheritor.
John did not need that much money for the moment. But he realized that it would be a good idea to store this capital in a safe place, and have it grow until he decided to retire. The bank convinced him that a certain kind of bond was interesting for him.
This kind of bond has a fixed value, and gives a fixed amount of yearly interest, payed to the owner at the end of each year. The bond has no fixed term. Bonds are available in different sizes. The larger ones usually give a better interest. Soon John realized that the optimal set of bonds to buy was not trivial to figure out. Moreover, after a few years his capital would have grown, and the schedule had to be re-evaluated.
Assume the following bonds are available:
Value Annual interest
4000 400
3000 250
With a capital of $10\ 000$ one could buy two bonds of $4\ 000$, giving a yearly interest of $800$. Buying two bonds of $3\ 000$, and one of $4\ 000$ is a better idea, as it gives a yearly interest of $900$. After two years the capital has grown to $11\ 800$ , and it makes sense to sell a $3\ 000$ one and buy a $4\ 000$ one, so the annual interest grows to $1\ 050$. This is where this story grows unlikely: the bank does not charge for buying and selling bonds. Next year the total sum is $12\ 850$, which allows for three times $4\ 000$, giving a yearly interest of $1\ 200$.
Here is your problem: given an amount to begin with, a number of years, and a set of bonds with their values and interests, find out how big the amount may grow in the given period, using the best schedule for buying and selling bonds.