How many possible hosts are available within a Class C private IP address?

For a Class C private IP address, the range is defined by the first three octets, with the first octet falling within the 192.168.x.x range. In a Class C network, the subnet mask is typically 255.255.255.0, which means that 8 bits are used for host addresses (as the last octet is reserved for hosts).

To calculate the number of possible hosts, the formula used is 2^n - 2, where n is the number of bits available for host addresses. In the case of Class C, where there are 8 bits for hosts, the calculation is 2^8 - 2 = 256 - 2 = 254. This accounts for two addresses that cannot be assigned to hosts: the network address and the broadcast address.

When considering the context of 256, while it represents the total number of addresses in the last octet, the usable number of hosts is actually 254. Therefore, the correct choice cannot be C, as the calculation doesn’t yield a count of 65,536 (which would correspond to a Class A network and a /8 subnet) or 1.05 million (which is not relevant to Class C), or