1. A single-pass system to achieve automatic recognition of text, that comprises: means to read the text and to generate electrical signals derived from the text read, which electrical signals are the electrical analog of words in the text; analysis means connected to receive the electrical signals and operable to achieve automatic recognition of the individual letters in a word on the basis of the combination of a. channel characteristics in the form of probabilities of the observed electrical signal given that true state of nature is each of the possible letters, b. the probabilities of the letter occurring serially with other recognized letters that precede the letter being analyzed, and c. lexical information in the form of acceptable words represented as a graph structure; and means to present a reproduction of the text so read and analyzed.