The document discusses the knapsack problem, which involves selecting a subset of items that fit within a knapsack of limited capacity to maximize the total value. There are two versions - the 0-1 knapsack problem where items can only be selected entirely or not at all, and the fractional knapsack problem where items can be partially selected. Solutions include brute force, greedy algorithms, and dynamic programming. Dynamic programming builds up the optimal solution by considering all sub-problems.