Explain the concept of working set in memory management.

The concept of working set in memory management refers to the set of pages that a process currently requires to execute efficiently. It represents the portion of a process's virtual address space that is actively being used and accessed during a specific period of time.

The working set is dynamic and changes over time as the process's memory requirements fluctuate. It is influenced by factors such as the process's execution phase, the size of the process, the available physical memory, and the behavior of the process itself.

The working set is crucial for efficient memory management as it helps determine which pages should be kept in physical memory and which can be swapped out to secondary storage. By keeping the working set in physical memory, the operating system can minimize the number of page faults and improve overall system performance.

To manage the working set, the operating system typically employs various techniques such as demand paging, page replacement algorithms, and memory allocation policies. These techniques aim to ensure that the working set is adequately maintained in physical memory, while also optimizing the utilization of available memory resources.

Overall, the concept of working set plays a vital role in memory management by dynamically identifying and managing the pages that are actively used by a process, thereby optimizing memory usage and improving system performance.