Computer Studies Made Simple : Main Memory:

Main Memory:

This is an important component of a computer system.

It is used to store programme and data that are being used.

It is also known as the working area of computer system.

A computer cannot work without its main memory.

Structure of Main Memory:

The main memory is bult in the form of a chip.

The chip is made up of a semi-conductor material.

The chip consists of thousand or millions of cells.

Each cell can store one bit as 0 or 1.

The cells in main memory are organized as groups of 8 bits.

One group of 8 bits is known as byte.

Each byte in the memory is assigned a unique number.

This number is called as the address of the byte.

Accessing data in main memory:

Main memory is a sequence of bytes.

CPU and other components can access any byte of main memory by specifying its address.

Different bytes canbe accessed randomly.Accessing any part of memory takes equal time.

Accessing data from the main memory doesnot require any form of movement.

That is why main memory is very fast as compared to other storage devices such as Magnetic disc.