The minimum number of temporary variables needed to swap the contents of two…

Correct answer: 0 temporary variables.

Explanation: You can swap two variables without using any temporary variable by performing in-place operations. Two common approaches are:

• Bitwise XOR method (works for integer types): a = a ^ b; b = a ^ b; a = a ^ b;

• Arithmetic method (works for numeric types but can overflow): a = a + b; b = a - b; a = a - b;

Caveats:

• These in-place methods apply mainly to numeric or bitwise-compatible types and are not generally applicable to all data types (for example, strings or complex objects).

• The arithmetic method may suffer from integer overflow in some languages or environments.

• The XOR method requires bitwise operations and careful handling if both variables reference the same memory location.

• If in-place operations are not allowed or are unsafe for the data type, using one temporary variable is the practical and safe approach: temp = a; a = b; b = temp;