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Chapter Profile
Chapter Profile
2 Memory
Measuring the Computer’s Memory
Computer
Memory
When you were a child, you were taught about alphabet and numbers. Do you still remember
it? How? This is so because these were stored in your memory. Just like human memory,
computers also have memory to store all the data and instructions for performing various
tasks.
MEMORY
The data and instructions that are entered into the computer using input devices are stored
inside the memory. There are two types of memory: Primary memory and Secondary
memory.
Primary Memory
This is the main memory of the computer. CPU can directly access this memory. It is fixed
on the motherboard of the computer. Primary memory is further divided into two types:
Random Access Memory (RAM) and Read Only Memory (ROM).
Random Access Memory (RAM)
RAM is a temporary memory. The information stored in this memory is
lost when the computer is turned OFF. That’s why it is also called
volatile memory.
RAM
Read Only Memory (ROM)
Information stored in ROM is permanent in nature, i.e., it holds
the data even if the system is switched OFF. It holds the starting
instructions that are required to start a computer. It is also called
ROM
non-volatile memory.
Computer Memory 13

