An IP address is a numerical identification , an address that every device on a network must have to be able to communicate with other devices , to find and be found on the internet .

Your ip may be static - meaning it is yours and you will always have the same address when you connect to the internet , or dinamic - meaning your ISP is constantly changing your ip on a first come first server base (your ip may change after each reboot, it all depends on the ISP) , this is why you should constantly check what is your present IP address if you want to access secured servers via SSH for example where there is an IP firewall

The IP addresses are binary numbers and are presented in these forms :
IPv4 : 192.168.1.32 (this is a LAN address)  that is a 32 bit number and it is the standard used today

IPv6 : 2032:db2:0:5224:0:323:1:2 that is a 128 bit number . The new IPv6 addressing system  was developed because the old IPv4 was getting obsolete , the IP pool was depleting and the Internet needed an alternative. The 128 bit address system is supposed to sustain the massive growth of the internet for a long time

The IP addressed space is governed by IANA - Internet Assigned Numbers Authority  that controls five RIRs to manage and allocate the IP addresses in the world .
The five RIRs ( Regional Internet Registries ) are :

1. (ARIN) American Registry for Internet Numbers  [1] for North America and parts of the Caribbean
2. (RIPE NCC) RIPE Network Coordination Centre  [2] for Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia
3. (APNIC) Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre  [3] for Asia and the Pacific region
4. (LACNIC) Latin American and Caribbean Internet Address Registry  [4] for Latin America and parts of the Caribbean region
5. (AfriNIC) African Network Information Centre  [5] for Africa