Which one of the following in place sorting algorithms needs the minimum…

Answer: Selection sort

Why this is correct:

• Selection sort selects the smallest (or largest) element remaining and swaps it into its final position once per pass.

• Because it does at most one swap per position, the total number of swaps is at most n-1 for an array of size n.

• Other in-place sorts:

  • Insertion sort can require up to O(n^2) swaps or shifts in the worst case (though it moves fewer elements for nearly-sorted input).

  • Quick sort performs many partition swaps (average O(n log n) swaps), so it generally uses more swaps than selection sort.

  • Heap sort also requires O(n log n) swaps while building and maintaining the heap.

Conclusion: Selection sort minimizes the number of swaps (at most n-1), so it is the correct choice when counting swaps among these in-place algorithms.