To answer this question, we need to understand how a COBOL "IF" statement works.
In COBOL, the "IF" statement is used to perform conditional branching based on the evaluation of a condition. The condition can involve one or more comparisons between variable values.
The correct answer is B) 1.
A single COBOL "IF" statement can make one comparison. The condition in the "IF" statement typically consists of a single comparison operator, such as "=", "<>", "", "<=", or ">=". This means that only one comparison can be made in a single "IF" statement.
For example, consider the following COBOL "IF" statement:
IF A > B
...
END-IF
In this example, there is one comparison being made, which is "A > B". The "IF" statement will evaluate this comparison and perform the subsequent actions based on the result of the comparison.
Therefore, the correct answer is B) 1.