Question

Question 132 pts
How many host bits are in the subnet mask 255.255.255.224?
Group of answer choices

27

5

Not enough information given

24

Answer 1

To determine how many host bits are in the subnet mask 255.255.255.224, we need to first convert the subnet mask to its binary form.

The subnet mask 255.255.255.224 in binary looks like this:

- 255: 11111111
- 255: 11111111
- 255: 11111111
- 224: 11100000

So, the full binary representation of the subnet mask is:
```
11111111.11111111.11111111.11100000
```

In total, there are 32 bits in an IPv4 address. The subnet mask consists of the bits set to 1 (network bits) and the bits set to 0 (host bits).

Counting the 1s from the subnet mask gives us:
- 24 bits set to 1 (from the first three octets of 255)
- 3 bits set to 1 (from the octet of 224)

So the total number of network bits is 27 (24 + 3) bits. Thus, the remaining bits (the host bits) in the subnet mask would be:
- 32 bits - 27 network bits = 5 host bits.

Therefore, the number of host bits in the subnet mask 255.255.255.224 is **5**.