Bruce, I can specify several RFCs that cover the subject. But I have no interest in teaching courses for free. (There are better ways to ask, people.) Here are a few to look over:
RFC 0790 - ASSIGNED NUMBERS
RFC 0791 - INTERNET PROTOCOL
RFC 0796 - ADDRESS MAPPINGS
RFC 0814 - NAME, ADDRESSES, PORTS, AND ROUTES
RFC 0917 - INTERNET SUBNETS
RFC 0922 - BROADCASTING INTERNET DATAGRAMS IN THE PRESENCE OF SUBNETS
RFC 0932 - A SUBNETWORK ADDRESSING SCHEME
RFC 0936 - Another Internet Subnet Addressing Scheme
RFC 0940 - Toward an Internet Standard Scheme for Subnetting
RFC 0950 - Internet Standard Subnetting Procedure
The documents may be found at
http://www.ietf.org/rfc/ This is only in the first 1000, so you may find more of interest, but you're going to have to learn to find data for yourself.