IP stands for Internet Protocol. To be on the Internet a computer must have at least one IP number. This number should be unique on the whole Internet.
The current implementation of TCP/IP uses 32-bit numbers
4,294,967,296 different IP numbers; not all can be assigned to machines
Over 4,000,000,000 usable numbers that can be assigned to machines
Since it is difficult to remember large numbers, and because of how routing works on the Internet, IP numbers are usually expressed in dotted quad notation.
In dotted quad notation each set of 8 bits from the 32 bit IP number is converted to a decimal number. These four decimal numbers are then listed separated by dots.
For example, the college's web server (http://www.gordon.edu) has the IP number
which corresponds to the binary number
where
| 110001112 | = | 199 |
| 011000012 | = | 97 |
| 001011012 | = | 45 |
| 000101012 | = | 21 |