Chapter 2 Written Language Input 2.1 Overview

Sargur N. Srihari & Rohini K. Srihari State University of New York at Bu alo, New York, USA The written form of language is contained in printed documents, such as newspapers, magazines and books, and in handwritten matter, such as found in notebooks and personal letters. Given the importance of written language in human transactions, its automatic recognition has practical signi cance. This overview describes the nature of written language, how written language is transduced into electronic data and the nature of written language recognition algorithms.