What is the purpose of the memory management unit (MMU) in a CPU?

What is the purpose of the memory management unit (MMU) in a CPU?

The purpose of the memory management unit (MMU) in a CPU is to handle the virtual memory system and manage the translation between virtual addresses used by the software and physical addresses used by the hardware. It ensures efficient memory allocation, protection, and access control, allowing multiple processes to share the same physical memory while maintaining isolation and security. The MMU also helps in implementing memory protection mechanisms, such as read-only or no-access permissions, and enables features like memory paging and swapping.