Question 1232 – Nielit STA [02-12-2018]

→ An accumulator is a register in which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored.
→ In a computer’s central processing unit (CPU), the accumulator is a register in which intermediate arithmetic and logic results are stored. Without a register like an accumulator, it would be necessary to write the result of each calculation (addition, multiplication, shift, etc.) to main memory, perhaps only to be read right back again for use in the next operation.
→ Access to main memory is slower than access to a register like the accumulator because the technology used for the large main memory is slower (but cheaper) than that used for a register. Early electronic computer systems were often split into two groups, those with accumulators and those without.