Dynamic Programming is not Dynamic Programming

Dynamic Programming Explained to a 4-year-old

[ Teacher writes down “1+1+1+1+1+1+1+1 =” on a sheet of paper ]

“What’s that equal to?”

Kid: [ counting ]

Kid: “Eight!”

[ Teacher writes down another “1+” to the left of the = sign ]

Teacher: “What about that?”

Kid (quickly): “Nine!”

Teacher: “How’d you know it was nine so fast?”

Kid: “You just added one more”

Teacher: “So you didn’t need to recount because you remembered there were eight! Dynamic Programming is just a fancy way to say ‘remembering stuff to save time later’”

~ Jonathan Paulson on Quora

There is no spoon. Dynamic Programming