Simple concept: Managed Paths: Wildcard or Explicit?

[Question]: What it is Managed Paths? What the difference between Wildcard and Explicit?
[Answer]:
   Managed paths allow SharePoint to determine what portion of a given URL corresponds to the site collection URL
  Explicit managed paths allow a single site collection at the path Url
 Wildcard  - allow unlimited site collections to be created under the path Url.