In paging, what is the role of the page table?

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Multiple Choice

In paging, what is the role of the page table?

Translating virtual addresses to physical addresses is done with a page table. In a paging system, the virtual address is divided into a virtual page number and an offset. The page table has an entry for each virtual page that tells you which physical frame in memory holds that page. By looking up the page number in the page table, you obtain the corresponding frame number and then append the offset to form the complete physical address. If the page isn’t currently in memory, the entry will indicate a page fault, prompting the operating system to load the page from disk. This mechanism is why the page table’s primary role is to map virtual page numbers to physical frame numbers. It does not store the program’s code, nor does it track page replacement order, and it doesn’t map physical frames back to virtual pages.

Translating virtual addresses to physical addresses is done with a page table. In a paging system, the virtual address is divided into a virtual page number and an offset. The page table has an entry for each virtual page that tells you which physical frame in memory holds that page. By looking up the page number in the page table, you obtain the corresponding frame number and then append the offset to form the complete physical address. If the page isn’t currently in memory, the entry will indicate a page fault, prompting the operating system to load the page from disk.

This mechanism is why the page table’s primary role is to map virtual page numbers to physical frame numbers. It does not store the program’s code, nor does it track page replacement order, and it doesn’t map physical frames back to virtual pages.

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