Question

How many 32K \(\times\) 1 RAM chips are needed to provide a memory capacity of 256K bytes?

• A. 8
• B. 128
• C. 64
• D. 32

Hint:

To calculate the number of RAM chips required, divide the total memory required by the memory capacity of one chip.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

Step 1: Understand the size of one RAM chip.
Each chip has a size of 32K \(\times\) 1, meaning it has 32K words and each word is 1 byte. Thus, each chip has a capacity of 32K bytes.

Step 2: Calculate the number of chips needed.
We need to provide 256K bytes of memory. The number of chips required is:
\[ \text{Number of chips} = \frac{\text{Total memory required}}{\text{Memory per chip}} = \frac{256K}{32K} = 8. \]

Step 3: Conclusion.
Thus, 8 RAM chips are needed to provide 256K bytes, and the correct answer is (a) 8.