 Second, it is necessary to distinguish between the force “which causes the ball to continue moving” on the one hand, and “that which determines it to move in one direction rather than the other” on the other, since “this same force could have made it move in any other direction” (AT 7: 94, CSM 1: 157). Conversely, the ball could have been determined to move in the same direction “even if a different force had moved it” (ibid.). Third, we can divide the direction of the ball into two principal components, which determine its direction: a perpendicular component (line AC) and a parallel component (line AH) (see  Fig. 2  above). The ball must be imagined as moving down the perpendicular line at the same time as it moves across the parallel line (left to right), and these two components determine its actual direction along the diagonal (line AB). Descartes terms these components parts of the “determination” of the ball because they specify its direction. Determinations are directed physical magnitudes. As we will see below, they specify the direction of the ball, and they can be independently affected in physical interactions.