ITPEC IP April 2024 Question 9

A must be i minus 1, and B must be the last array element. The program first saves the original first element, 1, in tmp. During the loop, each element at index i must move into the preceding position, so the assignment is array[i - 1] ← array[i].

For a five-element array, the loop copies indices 2 through 5 into indices 1 through 4, producing {2, 3, 4, 5, 5} temporarily. The saved first value is then placed at the final index 5, producing {2, 3, 4, 5, 1}.

Answer (d)

Why not others:
- (a) and (b) use i + 1, which shifts in the wrong direction and can address beyond the array
- (c) uses the correct i - 1 shift but writes tmp to index n - 1, overwriting the fourth element rather than filling the last position

Key rule: A circular left shift stores the first element, moves every later element one index lower, and restores the saved element at index n.

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