D2 June 2009 Q7

EdexcelOld spec13 marksDynamic Programming

7. Minty has £250 000 to allocate to three investment schemes. She will allocate the money to these schemes in units of £50 000. The net income generated by each scheme, in £1000s, is given in the table below.

£0£50 000£100 000£150 000£200 000£250 000
Scheme 1060120180240300
Scheme 2065125190235280
Scheme 3055110170230300

Minty wishes to maximise the net income. She decides to use dynamic programming to determine the optimal allocation, and starts the table shown in your answer book.

(a) Complete the table in the answer book to determine the amount Minty should allocate to each scheme in order to maximise the income. State the maximum income and the amount that should be allocated to each scheme. (10)
(b) For this problem give the meaning of the table headings
(i) Stage,
(ii) State,
(iii) Action.
(3)