Which statement about memory management in an operating system is true?

Which statement about memory management in an operating system is true?

• A. It only manages peripherals
• B. It does not allocate memory to processes
• C. It uses backing store to manage memory automatically
• D. It allocates memory to processes and may swap data to backing store

Answer: (D)

Memory management in an operating system is about controlling how RAM is allocated to active processes and tracking what each process uses. It may move data out of main memory to a backing store on disk to free up space for other tasks, a process known as swapping or paging. This combination of assigning memory and using a backing store when needed is what makes the statement true. The other ideas miss a key part of the role: memory management is not just about peripherals, it does allocate memory to processes, and while backing storage is used, it’s not merely an automatic, one-way process—it's the system that balances RAM use with on-disk storage to keep active programs running efficiently.

Memory management in an operating system is about controlling how RAM is allocated to active processes and tracking what each process uses. It may move data out of main memory to a backing store on disk to free up space for other tasks, a process known as swapping or paging. This combination of assigning memory and using a backing store when needed is what makes the statement true. The other ideas miss a key part of the role: memory management is not just about peripherals, it does allocate memory to processes, and while backing storage is used, it’s not merely an automatic, one-way process—it's the system that balances RAM use with on-disk storage to keep active programs running efficiently.