In selection sort, how many comparisons are made in the inner loop during each iteration?a.Two comparisonsb.One comparisonc.n comparisonsd.n - 1 comparisons

The answer is d. n - 1 comparisons.

Here's why:

Selection sort is a simple comparison-based algorithm. The main idea behind the algorithm is to divide the input list into two parts: the sorted part and the unsorted part. Initially, the sorted part is empty and the unsorted part is the entire input list.

The algorithm repeatedly selects the smallest (or largest, depending on the ordering) element from the unsorted sublist, swapping it with the leftmost unsorted element (putting it in sorted order), and moving the sublist boundaries one element to the right.

In each iteration of the selection sort, the inner loop runs n - 1 times where n is the number of elements that are yet to be sorted.

For example, in the first iteration, the inner loop will run n - 1 times as it needs to find the smallest element in the entire list. In the second iteration, the inner loop will run n - 2 times as it needs to find the smallest element in the remaining list (excluding the already sorted element from the first iteration), and so on.

So, in each iteration of the selection sort, the inner loop makes n - 1 comparisons.