This is a hard question to which historians have found no definite answer. Liu Hui himself believed that the text which he was commentating on was originally written around 1000 BC but incorporating much material of later eras.
Ito ay isang mahirap na tanong na kung saan historians natagpuan ng walang tiyak na sagot. Liu Hui kanyang sarili sumampalataya na ang mga text na kung saan siya ay commentating sa noon ay orihinal na nakasulat sa paligid ng 1000 BC ngunit incorporating marami materyales ng mamaya eras.