How is scientific analysis possible?

One of the most powerful tools available to science is the analytic method. The method involves studying fairly simple systems in relative isolation, and then applying our knowledge of these systems to explain and predict the behaviour of more complex systems. Not only does this method give us a foothold in our understanding of complex systems, it allows us to extend our understanding to new systems, and to unify our understanding of different systems. Furthermore, it is this same analytic method that allows us to put together complex systems from parts that we understand in order to produce useful and predictable technologies.