Final answer:
The operating system maintains a frame table to monitor allocated frames, total frames, and available frames for memory management.
Step-by-step explanation:
The operating system maintains a frame table that keeps track of how many frames have been allocated, the total number of frames, and how many frames are available. This table is part of the memory management function of the operating system, specifically within the area known as physical memory management. Its purpose is to manage the system's physical memory and keep track of each memory frame's status.
When a program needs to access data that isn't in the main memory, the operating system must allocate a frame from the physical memory to store the required page from the disk. The frame table helps the operating system quickly see which frames are free and which are occupied. It takes care of mapping logical addresses (used by the programs) to physical addresses (used by the hardware).