WBJECA 2025 — Computer PYQ

In memory management, fragmentation is a phenomenon where memory space is wasted. There are two primary types:

• Internal Fragmentation: This occurs when the memory allocated to a process is slightly larger than the memory requested by the process. Because the process cannot use this "extra" space, and it is located inside the allocated block, it is considered wasted.

• External Fragmentation: This occurs when total unused memory space exists to satisfy a request, but it is not contiguous, so it cannot be used.

We can mathematically represent the wasted space in internal fragmentation as:

$$\text{Internal Fragmentation}=\text{Allocated Block Size}-\text{Requested Process Size}$$

Where:

• The system allocates memory in fixed-size blocks (e.g., in paging).

• If a process occupies only a portion of the block, the remainder is internally fragmented:

  \text{Wasted Space} > 0

Because internal fragmentation is specifically characterized by unused space residing within a partition that has already been allocated to a process, (A) is the correct answer.