The article discusses the problem of finding the most profitable path in a tree for Alice while considering Bob's movement in the game scenario.
Alice and Bob traverse an undirected tree with gates at each node, with different costs and rewards associated with opening the gates.
The goal is to maximize Alice's net income by reaching the optimal leaf node while Bob moves towards node 0.
The solution involves constructing the tree, tracking parents, determining Bob's path and timing, and using DFS to calculate the maximum profit for Alice.
Parent pointers are used to backtrack Bob's path from his starting node to the root, recording the time he arrives at each node.
By comparing Alice's arrival time with Bob's along the path, her net income at each node is determined, leading to the maximum income overall.
Efficient tree traversal methods like BFS and DFS are employed to handle the calculations and comparisons effectively.
The solution ensures correctness and performance even for large trees, providing an optimal path for Alice to maximize her net income.
The implementation of the solution in PHP is provided for reference, showcasing the steps involved in solving the problem.
Overall, the approach offers a systematic way to solve the profitability problem in the tree traversal game scenario, catering to various edge cases.