In data structures, an array is a collection of elements of the same data type, stored in contiguous memory locations. Memory allocation for an array involves reserving a block of memory for the array elements. The size of the array determines the amount of memory needed to store the elements.

There are two ways to allocate memory for an array:

Static memory allocation: In static memory allocation, the size of the array is fixed at compile time, and the memory is allocated on the stack or in the data segment of the program. The syntax for declaring a statically allocated array in C is:

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int arr[10]; // creates an integer array of size 10

The memory for the array elements is allocated when the program starts, and it remains allocated until the program terminates.

Dynamic memory allocation: In dynamic memory allocation, the size of the array can be determined at runtime, and the memory is allocated on the heap using functions like malloc() or calloc() in C, or new[] in C++. The syntax for dynamically allocating an array in C using malloc() is:

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int* arr; arr = (int*) malloc(10 * sizeof(int)); // dynamically allocates an integer array of size 10

The memory for the array elements is allocated during runtime, and it can be released using functions like free() in C or delete[] in C++.

It is important to note that dynamically allocated memory must be properly managed to avoid memory leaks or invalid memory access. Also, the size of the array should be carefully calculated to avoid buffer overflows or underflows.

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