Pattern - Knapsack DP

All knapsack problems follow this structure:

$1.$ Items with attributes (weight, value, count limit)

$2.$ Capacity constraint (total weight, budget, time)

$3.$ Improvement goal (max value, min cost, count ways) Choose your formulation based on constraints: small $W$ means standard $dp[i][w]$, large $W$ with small values means value-based $dp[i][v]$, items repeat means unbounded $dp[w]$.

Recognize the pattern, pick the right formulation, write the transition. That's the knapsack framework.