GATE CS 2020 Set 1 — Question 21
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Operating System → Memory Management → Contiguous Allocation
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Question
Consider allocation of memory to a new process. Assume that none of the existing holes in the memory will exactly fit the process’s memory requirement. Hence, a new hole of smaller size will be created if allocation is made in any of the existing holes. Which one of the following statements is TRUE?
Correct answer
(C) The hole created by best fit is never larger than the hole created by first fit.
Solution
The 'Best Fit' strategy allocates the smallest hole that is large enough to hold the process. This minimizes the size of the leftover hole (the new hole created). Let be the size of the hole chosen and be the process size. The new hole size is .
Since Best Fit chooses such that and is minimized, the value is minimized across all available holes.'First Fit' chooses the first hole such that . Since Best Fit finds the minimum valid , .
Therefore, the new hole from Best Fit () is less than or equal to the new hole from First Fit ().Thus, the hole created by best fit is never larger than the hole created by first fit.
Since Best Fit chooses such that and is minimized, the value is minimized across all available holes.'First Fit' chooses the first hole such that . Since Best Fit finds the minimum valid , .
Therefore, the new hole from Best Fit () is less than or equal to the new hole from First Fit ().Thus, the hole created by best fit is never larger than the hole created by first fit.
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