ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

The whole is more than the sum of its parts

Imagine you have two yummy chocolates. You can eat them both and feel happy. But what if you put them together and make a chocolate cake? If you eat the entire cake, you will be even happier than just eating two chocolates separately! That's because the cake has something special that wasn't there in the two separate chocolates.

Similarly, sometimes things that are made by combining many smaller things can be even better than just those smaller things on their own. For example, a company is made up of many employees working together. Each employee has their own skills and talents, but when they all work together, they can achieve things that they couldn't have done alone. This is why we say that the whole company is more than just the sum of its individual employees.

In other words, when we combine many smaller things, we can often create something greater and more powerful than those individual parts alone. That's why teamwork is important and why things like a cake made from chocolate can be so special.