SE

A system is an arrangement of parts or elements that together exhibit behaviour or meaning that the individual constituents do not.

Systems can be either physical or conceptual, or a combination of both.

Systems in the physical universe are composed of matter and energy, may embody information encoded in matter-energy carriers, and exhibit observable behaviour.

Conceptual systems are abstract systems of pure information, and do not directly exhibit behaviour, but exhibit “meaning”. In both cases, the system’s properties (as a whole) result, or emerge from:

• the parts or elements and their individual properties; AND
• the relationships and interactions between and among the parts, the system and its environment.