IP is short for Internet Protocol.
A 'protocol' is a set of rules for doing something. In this case it is the task of being able to uniquely identify every computer connected to an IP based network.
The way this is done is to assign a long number to each computer made up of 4 bytes. This normally takes the form of four, three digit numbers separated by a dot. Like this
255.168.101.004
Of course behind the scene this is actually a 32 bit binary number (4 bytes).
Each number group in the address sub-divides the network to which the computer is connected with the final number (004 above) being the actual computer.
The Internet is a vast collection of smaller networks each connected to one another through routers.
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