What process involves arranging things into classes or categories?

The process of organizing items, organisms, or concepts into groups based on shared characteristics or similarities is known as classification. This systematic approach allows for easier identification, understanding, and communication about the entities being studied. Classification can apply to various fields, including biology, where it helps in sorting organisms into categories like species, genus, family, and so forth, based on traits such as genetic relationships, physical features, or behaviors. This organization is foundational for scientific study and facilitates research, education, and further inquiry into the relationships among different groups. Taxonomy is closely related as it refers specifically to the science of naming, describing, and classifying organisms, but the more general term that encompasses the broader act of categorization is classification. Differentiation, on the other hand, refers to the process of distinguishing or making something different in some way, and physical analysis pertains to examining the physical properties or characteristics of a substance or object, which does not involve categorization in the same manner.