A processor has a 16-bit address bus and uses the entire address space for memory-mapped addressing. How many distinct byte addresses can it generate?

Options

  • A. 16384
  • B. 32768
  • C. 65536
  • D. More than one of the above
  • E. None of the above

Correct Answer (Detailed Explanation is Below)

C. 65536

Detailed Explanation

Correct Answer: Option C (65536).

Explanation: An n-bit address bus can represent 2^n distinct addresses. For a 16-bit address bus, 2^16 = 65536 addresses, ranging from 0 to 65535. With byte addressing, the total address space is 65536 bytes or 64 KiB.