Well I think this is what documentation refers to. Here is an example from the link:
Calculating the decimal value of an IPv4 address is easy. If we were
to number the octets from left to right and break them into variables
called $octet1, $octet2, $octet3 and $octet4, we can use the following
formulas to convert each octet into its decimal value and then add
each decimal value to achieve the decimal equivalent for the IP
address:
$octet1 x (256^3) = $decimal1
$octet2 x (256^2) = $decimal2
$octet3 x (256) = $decimal3
$octet4 = $decimal4
$decimal1 + $decimal2 + $decimal3 + $decimal4 = $decimal_equivalent
For example, converting IP Address 192.168.1.16 to its decimal
equivalent would look like this:
192 x (256^3) = 3221225472
168 x (256^2) = 11010048
1 x 256 = 256
16 = 16
3221225472 + 11010048 + 16 = 3232235792
The decimal equivalent of 192.168.1.16 is 3232235792.