The number of hosts per subnet is determined by the number of host bits in the subnet mask. The space. - 255.255 corresponds to the first two octets (16 bits), which are typically network bits in Class B. - 248 in the third octet is 11111000 in binary. This means the first 5 bits are network bits and the last 3 bits are host bits. - The fourth octet (0) is 00000000 in binary, meaning all 8 bits are host bits. Total network bits = 8 + 8 + 5 = 21. Total host bits = 3 (from the third octet) + 8 (from the fourth octet) = 11 bits. The maximum number of usable hosts per subnet is calculated as 2^(number of host bits) - 2 (to account for the network address and the broadcast address). Maximum hosts = 2^11 - 2 = 2048 - 2 = 2046.