what do the numbers in an IP address stand for?

Question

is there any method to their pairings? is each # unique to a certain computer and time? how come some have 2#'s in between the dots and others have3?

Answer 1

Every machine on the Internet has a unique identifying number, called an IP Address. A typical IP address looks like this:

* 216.27.61.137

To make it easier for us humans to remember, IP addresses are normally expressed in decimal format as a "dotted decimal number" like the one above. But computers communicate in binary form. Look at the same IP address in binary:

* 11011000.00011011.00111101.10001001

The four numbers in an IP address are called octets, because they each have eight positions when viewed in binary form. If you add all the positions together, you get 32, which is why IP addresses are considered 32-bit numbers. Since each of the eight positions can have two different states (1 or 0) the total number of possible combinations per octet is 28 or 256. So each octet can contain any value between 0 and 255. Combine the four octets and you get 232 or a possible 4,294,967,296 unique values!

The octets serve a purpose other than simply separating the numbers. They are used to create classes of IP addresses that can be assigned to a particular business, government or other entity based on size and need. The octets are split into two sections: Net and Host. The Net section always contains the first octet. It is used to identify the network that a computer belongs to. Host (sometimes referred to as Node) identifies the actual computer on the network. The Host section always contains the last octet. There are five IP classes plus certain special addresses:

Answer 2

It's basically a phone number- the numbers go from 0 - 255 because that's a significant number in binary (10000000). You can find a few things out from IP addresses just because different service providers own different blocks of IP addresses. For instance, I know that anyone with an IP address of 18.x.x.x is at MIT right now. If the IP address is 192.168.x.x, it means you're behind a router- those IP addresses are reserved for private use.

Answer 3

The numbers in an IP address mean different things depending on its class and if you are using subnetting or not, but this is the general idea:

The first group of numbers (the group size is specified by the class or subnet) defines your network, and the remaining numbers define your host number. It's kind of like having and area code and a local number. Like telephone numbers, IP addresses are assigned to only one host in world for a given time. There is an exception to this, as some ranges of IP numbers are used only for private networks, such as 192.168.x.x and 10.x.x.x

IP addressess are duplicated only by mistake or when engaging in "IP Spoofing", a variation of identity theft.

IP numbers are arranged in four 8-bit groups, that is, you have four numbers, separated by a dot, ranging from 0 to 255.

Answer 4

The number in the IP address is actually the way the site is located. When you type in an internet address, it is converted to the number of the address and that is how it is handled through the servers.

Answer 5

these numbers are out of 255 (8bytes) IP numbers can take range from 255.255.255.255 till 0.0.0.1