Question

A minimum of _____ variable(s) is/are required to be shared between processes to solve the critical section problem.

a) one
b) two
c) three
d) four

Answer 1

To solve the critical section problem, at least one shared variable is required to manage access to the critical section and ensure that only one process can enter it at any given time.

Step-by-step explanation:

The critical section problem is a classical synchronization problem in concurrent algorithm design. Its goal is to ensure that multiple processes or threads do not enter the critical section of the code simultaneously, which could lead to race conditions and inconsistent states in the system.

To solve the critical section problem, at a minimum, one shared variable is required. This variable acts as a flag (or a semaphore) that helps in managing access to the critical section, ensuring mutual exclusion, which means that at any point in time, only one process can enter the critical section.

The correct answer to the question is therefore a) one.