Without recognition of its parts a whole is an essentially structureless and unanalyzable
unity. If its parts are
independent or
random ly sampled by an observer, a whole has no outstanding quality other than that of being an observer's aggregate (
see aggregation ). If a whole is qualitatively different from a mere aggregate of its parts, the difference lies in its
structure or
organization . Thus any whole may be understood as, described in terms of, and considered equal to a structure or an organization of component parts (
see gestalt, holism ,
system ). In some cases the properties of its parts may be ignored without appreciable loss of understanding a whole, particularly when parts are numerous, simple and the same as in the objects of
computer sciences, macro -economics, and quantum physics all of which heavily rely on
mathematics for their
construct ions. When the parts are few, complex, different, and tenuously related, as in a marriage, the properties or the parts figure more prominently in the understanding of a whole and can not be ignored in favor of such wholes' organization. (
Krippendorff ))
