The register or main-memory location that contains the effective address of an…

Concept

In computer architecture, an effective address is the address of the memory location containing the operand to be accessed.

In indirect addressing, an instruction names a register or memory location whose stored value is that effective address. That address-holding register or memory location is a pointer.

Application

The stem describes a register or main-memory location that contains the operand’s effective address. This definition corresponds to a pointer.

Contrast

• Pointer: stores an address that is used to access the referenced operand indirectly.

• Special location: a generic phrase, not the standard computer-architecture term for an address-holding location.

• Index register: contributes an index to an address calculation, commonly represented as EA = A + (R); it need not contain the complete effective address by itself.

• None of these: does not apply because pointer is an offered standard term.

Therefore, the required term is pointer.