Instead, they become more accurate when they work through a problem together, breaking it into smaller pieces before reassembling them into a new answer. On the other hand, averaging the consensus estimates of small groups consistently produces better results than averaging the independent estimates of much larger crowds. One set of groups was instructed to share their initial estimates and combine them for an average. The other set of groups was told to split the problem into smaller pieces, estimate those smaller pieces, and then combine those estimates into an answer. This suggests that sharing and checking each other's estimates in a group setting adds something that individuals working alone can't do.