Did China really overtake the U.S. as the world's largest economy?

China has surpassed the United States as the largest economy in the world, according to a report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This may seem like unsettling news for the Western superpower, but is the report all that accurate?

It's all a matter of perspective, really.

One method uses market exchange rates, converting the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of a country into a common currency and comparing it to other currencies. If this benchmark is used, the U.S. is still clearly the global leader.