Final answer:
To create 20-host subnets within the 172.16.23.0/16 range, we calculate the number of subnets by determining the number of bits needed for at least 20 usable host addresses. With a /16 network, 5 bits are designated for hosts, leaving 11 bits for subnetting, resulting in 2,048 possible 20-host subnets.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to creating subnets within the given IP address range of 172.16.23.0/16. To determine how many 20-host subnets can be created, it's necessary to understand subnetting within IPv4. Given that each subnet needs to support at least 20 hosts, we'll need to calculate the subnet size that accommodates these requirements .For each subnet to support 20 hosts, we need at least 5 bits for host addresses (2^5 = 32 host addresses per subnet). However, two addresses in each subnet are unusable for hosts as they are reserved for the network address and the broadcast address, leaving us with 30 usable addresses, which meets the 20 host requirement. Since the provided network is a /16, we have 16 bits for the network and 16 bits for hosts. If we take 5 bits for the hosts, we are left with 11 bits for additional subnetting (16-5=11) .This results in 2^11 possible subnets, which is 2,048 subnets. Therefore, the correct answer to how many 20-host subnets can be created is 2,048 subnets, which is option b.Given the subnet 172.16.23.0/16, we can determine the number of 20-host subnets by finding the number of bits allocated for the subnet portion of the address. In this case, since the subnet is a /16, there are 16 bits for the network portion and 16 bits for the host portion.To calculate the number of 20-host subnets, we need to find the number of subnets that can be created using 4 bits (20 = 2^4). Therefore, the number of 20-host subnets is 2^4 = 16.So the correct answer is 16.