An orange and an apple are two fruit altogether.

Similarly, two trucks and three cars "add up" or sum to five vehicles.

From these examples you may deduce (or discern) that summation of amounts of objects, also numbers of people, are of a type of general equivalency (yet only if so).

Any five people are not any five cars however both are groupings or sets of five, describable via the comprehension of five-ness of quantity.

Relatedly, the approximately one hundred billion stars (and supermassive black hole:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*) comprising our galaxy are not same as the into-the-billions of sand grains on the beaches of Gaia.

And yet, we've had scientific consensus that the sands of earth originate from an ancient supernova explosion (Astronomy).

It's important to know how to count correctly, helpfully.

From Bing: “What gets measured gets managed” is a quote attributed to Peter Drucker1. The quote suggests that what is measured is more likely to be managed, and what is not measured is more likely to be neglected or mismanaged.

The cowry shells pictured above have much history to them (Cowrie shells were among the devices used for divination by the Kaniyar Panicker astrologers of Kerala, India. [12] In certain parts of Africa, cowries were prized charms, and they were said to be associated with fecundity, sexual pleasure and good luck. | Cowrie - Wikipedia)

If you do the above two exercises virtuously, you will have a robust foundation to learn all mathematics and it would continue to be of benefit to you and those you care about.

I recommend these counting exercises to enrich / develop your "critical"* thinking skills:

1. counting the amount of money you have, if any, until you know exactly how much money you possess

2. counting (seed) spirals of a pinecone (like or such as in the picture below) or similar object in nature (until you experience satisfaction)

[Hint: put a finger on the appearance of a spiral and count around a pinecone by each spiraling row until you arrive back at your first finger]

* The Dalai Lama, quoted in "I Am", the movie:

Question for the Dalai Lama: “What’s the most important [thing] we can do now?”

Answer: “Critical thinking, followed by [such] action. Discern what your world is. Know the plot, the scenario of this human drama. And then figure out where your talents might fit in to make a better world.”

(source: https://calvincorreli.com/blog/1957-critical-thinking-followed-by-action)