Final answer:
A page table contains the base address of each page in physical memory, not the page offset or page size, which are determined by system settings and the architecture.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asked what a page table contains. In the context of computer operating systems, a page table is a data structure used by a virtual memory system to store the mapping between virtual addresses and physical addresses. A page table typically contains the following information:
- Base address of each page in physical memory
- Information about protection, access rights, and status (e.g., whether the page has been modified)
- Other control bits for cache settings, etc.
The page offset is determined by the size of the page and is used within the page itself once the appropriate page has been located. It is not stored in the page table. The page size is usually a system-wide setting, which might not be stored in the page table, but rather is defined by the architecture or operating system settings.
Therefore, the correct answer to the student's question is a) Base address of each page in physical memory.