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Solution: Longest Path With Different Adjacent Characters

Explore how to apply topological sorting to solve the longest path problem in a rooted tree where no two adjacent nodes share the same character. Understand how to calculate in-degrees, process nodes in reverse order, and combine longest chains for efficient computation. This lesson enables you to implement a linear time algorithm for character-distinct paths in trees.

Statement

You are given a rooted tree with nn nodes, numbered from 00 to n1n - 1, where the tree is connected, undirected, and has no cycles. The tree is represented by a 0-indexed array parent of size nn, where parent[i] is the parent of node ...