To answer this question, you need to understand the concept of conversions that lose precision in COBOL.
In COBOL, the COMP-1 data type represents a single-precision floating-point number. It is typically used to store numbers with a decimal point and a fractional part. On the other hand, the FIXED-POINT data type represents a fixed-point number with a specified number of digits before and after the decimal point.
When a COMP-1 data item is moved to a FIXED-POINT data item that has more than nine digits, the fixed-point data item will receive only nine significant digits, and the remaining digits will be zero.
Let's go through each option to understand why it is correct or incorrect:
Option A) (a) 18, zero - This option is incorrect because the fixed-point data item receives only nine significant digits, not 18.
Option B) (b) zero, 18 - This option is incorrect because the fixed-point data item receives only nine significant digits, not 18.
Option C) (c) zero, 9 - This option is incorrect because the fixed-point data item receives only nine significant digits, not zero.
Option D) (d) 9, zero - This option is correct because the fixed-point data item receives only nine significant digits, and the remaining digits are zero.
Therefore, the correct answer is option D. The fixed-point data item will receive nine significant digits, and the remaining digits will be zero.