Knock knock! Any server home?

After you purchase a web hosting service, your provider will send a welcome email with lots of information in it. One of them probably looks something like this: 64.234.240.57 

Why would you need to know this bunch of numbers separated by dots about your web hosting service? This information is crucial for anyone (including you!) to send information to your server because that is the address of your server on the internet.

The internet is a global network of interconnected computers that communicate with other computers on the network by sending data to one another (your web server is essentially a computer with special software installed allowing it to serve information without your intervention after you set it up). How would a computer connected to the internet in Australia know where to send data to a computer connected to the internet in Brazil?

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