Paging is a memory management technique in operating systems where memory is divided into fixed-sized blocks called pages. Correspondingly, physical memory is divided into frames of the same size.

Paging is a memory management scheme that eliminates the need for contiguous memory allocation, dividing physical memory into fixed-sized blocks called frames and logical memory into blocks of the same size called pages. Formally, paging is defined as a method where the operating system maps pages of virtual memory to frames in physical memory using a page table, which helps reduce fragmentation and allows processes to be loaded into non-contiguous memory locations. Paging enables efficient memory management by providing a mechanism for virtual memory support.

When a process is executed, its pages are mapped to available frames in physical memory. This mapping is managed by the page table, which stores the frame number for each page. Paging eliminates external fragmentation and makes efficient use of memory.

However, excessive paging may cause page thrashing, where the system spends more time swapping pages between memory and storage rather than executing processes. Efficient page replacement algorithms are essential to avoid performance degradation.