Question

In insertion sort, after n passes are the sorted items in their final position or to each other?

1) In their final position
2) To each other

Answer 1

In insertion sort, after n passes, with n being the total number of items in the list, each item is in its final position. This is achieved by iteratively selecting and inserting each item into the correct position within the sorted portion of the list.

Step-by-step explanation:

In insertion sort, after n passes, where n is the total number of items in the list to be sorted, each item is indeed in its final position relative to all the other items.

During each pass, the algorithm selects an item and inserts it into its correct position within the already sorted portion of the list. By the time all n passes are complete, each element has been compared to others and placed exactly where it should be in the sorted order.

An example to illustrate this would be a small list of numbers: 4, 3, 1, 2. After the first pass, the first item (4) is considered sorted. Subsequent passes sort the remaining items: 3 is placed before 4, 1 is placed at the beginning, and finally, 2 is inserted between 1 and 3, resulting in a sorted list of 1, 2, 3, 4.