A ball of mass, m, moving with initial velocity, u to the right towards a wall.
It will have momentum towards the right.
The ball bounces off the wall. It will now be moving to the left, with the same mass, but a different velocity, v and therefore, a different momentum, towards the left.
The final momentum vector must be the sum of the initial momentum vector and the change in momentum vector, .
Using tail to head vector addition, , must be the vector that starts at the head of and ends on the head of , hence the resultant change in momentum vector will point towards the left, that is, away from the wall.
We also know from algebraic addition of vectors that: