Is the standard array-based implementation of Merge Sort considered an in-place sorting algorithm?
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No
Standard Merge Sort requires auxiliary memory proportional to the size of the input to store elements during the merge step, resulting in a space complexity of O(n). While specialized in-place versions exist, they are significantly more complex and often sacrifice the algorithm's speed. You can remember this by thinking of Merge Sort as needing a 'temporary workspace' to safely organize and combine its data.