both the femoral and tibial components only if there are no common codes between the femoral and tibial components selected would the surgeon consider the tibial or femoral size selection with respect to the other one in this case the surgeon would adjust either the tibial selection or the femoral selection or both until he selected components with overlapping codes from which he could select a compatible articular surface component for example the surgeon might determine that a size b femoral and a size 5 tibial were best a quick check of the codes on the two implants would show that there is no common code and therefore no compatible articular surface for that pair the surgeon could then choose to go up one size to a c femoral component use a green articular component or he could choose to go down one size to a size 4 tibial component and use a striped yellow articular surface component likewise he could adjust both components so that he would use a size c femoral a size 4 tibial and a size yellow y articular surface the coding scheme according to this invention is also useful subsequent to component selection as a quick and accurate verification of component compatibility for this purpose a surgeon or other operating room personnel would verify prior to implanting the three components that all three had a common code the present invention provides a useful visual code to indicate compatibility between mating implant components while the preferred embodiment.