There are so many ways to look at most things.
Take a runaway train, for example.
The very idea of a “runaway train” probably evokes some thoughts of a disaster about to happen.
Following this past week’s 3.1% gain in the S&P 500, adding to the nearly 4.3% gain since the election result that most everyone thought to be improbable, the market may be taking on some characteristics of a runaway train.
But I don’t really think too much about the inevitable crash that ensues when the train does leave the tracks.
As every physics fan knows, the real challenge behind a runaway train is getting all of that momentum under control.
I don’t think about that, either, though.
What I do think about is trying to understand how to look at momentum.
Momentum, of course, is simply the product of the object’s mass and its velocity.
Mass, of course is nothing more than the force exerted by that object divided by its acceleration.
Acceleration, of course is nothing more than the derivative of an object’s velocity.
So, I like to look at momentum as an expression of the product of an object’s force and its velocity, while at the same time dividing by rate of change in that velocity.
In other words, depending upon how you look at things makes all the difference in the world.
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