My question: How do you get the 27? Wouldn't 27 be the broadcast number? To get the broadcast number for 10.24.0.0 you would go up to the next subnet (10.28.0.0) and subtract 1 to get (10.27.0.0) and this would be the broadcast. To get the host then subtract 1 again to get 10.26.0.0, or .....10.26.255.254 ? Or, is my reasoning above incorrect? Maybe this? Since the 4th octet is a 254 to avoid the broadcast of 255, then the broadcast of .27 and .255 in 2nd and 3rd octets can stay put as the 4th octet is avoiding the broadcast?