# What is an IP?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 19, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334 "2001-10-19T01:03:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334/1 "2001-10-19T01:03:48Z")

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I’ve swwn the word IP mentioned a lot, what is it?

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**Author:** ![Rasa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rasa/32/3578_2.png) [@Rasa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rasa)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334/2 "2001-10-19T01:49:19Z")

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An IP address (Internet Protocol) is the identifying “address” assigned to a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. Information is transmitted using the destination IP addresses–think of it as your computer’s postal address on the Internet.

IP addresses are 32-bit addresses, and are written as 4 sets of numbers ranging from 0 to 255, separated by a period.

There’s a whole lot more I could say about IP and TCP/IP but think of it as a numeric address for your computer to identify it to the rest of the Internet.

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**Author:** ![StephenG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@StephenG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StephenG)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334/3 "2001-10-19T02:44:38Z")

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I heartily recommend this site: [http://www.whatis.com](http://www.whatis.com)  
They have a veritable encyclopedia on all sorts of computing terms. Enjoy!

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**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334/4 "2001-10-19T02:57:30Z")

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Thanks **Stephen** and **Rasa**. The site was very helpful.

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**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2001, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-an-ip/88334/5 "2001-10-19T13:56:16Z")

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Not to confuse the issue, but be aware that IP has multiple meanings. On this board, computer talk is about as frequent as legal talk, so IP is equally likely to mean “Internet protocol” and “intellectual property”. Context will tell.