Essai sur la signification mathématique des marqueurs de couleur chez Liu Hui (3ème siècle)

The commentator on the Han classic The Nine Chapters on Mathematical Procedures, Liu Hui (third century), uses five colour names in his commentary. These five names appear in two separate sets, each of which is found more than once linked with mathematical objects. I had previously suggested that the way of using the set constituted by the black and the crimson could have a specific mathematical meaning. In order to test this hypothesis, I turn in this paper to the second set, yellow, virid and vermillion, to find out whether they also have a mathematical meaning. Such is the case, which leads to several conclusions. First, this seems to confirm the idea that Liu Hui used these markers to convey a mathematical idea. This raises once more the question of how to read ancient Chinese texts. Secondly, the way he uses colours is the same in both cases. Liu Hui constructs analogies between different situations by using the same colour name to mark objects playing similar roles. The colours only receive their meanings as parts of a system, but not individually.Chemla Karine. Essai sur la signification mathématique des marqueurs de couleur chez Liu Hui (3ème siècle). In: Cahiers de linguistique - Asie orientale, vol. 23, 1994. pp. 61-76