How many bits are in an IPv4 address and how is it commonly represented?

• A. 128 bits; shown in hexadecimal.
• B. 32 bits; typically shown in dotted-decimal notation.
• C. 16 bits; shown in binary.
• D. 64 bits; shown in octal.

Answer: (B)

IPv4 addresses are 32 bits long, formed by four 8-bit blocks called octets. Each octet can represent values from 0 to 255, and when written for humans it’s shown as four decimal numbers separated by dots—dotted-decimal notation—such as 192.168.0.1. This representation maps directly to the 32-bit binary value, with the first octet representing the highest-order bits and the last octet the lowest-order bits. Dotted-decimal is the standard, human-friendly form, though you could display the same address in binary, hex, or other bases.