What is the function of the Accumulator (AC) register in a basic CPU architecture?

Subject: Computer Architecture and Organization

Topic: Register Transfer & Microoperations

Options:

1. Option A: Stores the opcode of the next instruction to be fetched
2. Option B: Holds one of the operands and the intermediate result of ALU operations
3. Option C: Maintains the count of instructions executed per second
4. Option D: Stores external interrupt vector addresses

Correct Answer:

Option B: Holds one of the operands and the intermediate result of ALU operations

Explanation:

The Accumulator (AC) is a general-purpose processor register that holds initial operational operands and receives the computed outputs from the ALU.