1. A computer-implemented method of accelerating the classification of an unclassified input symbol S into a library of pre-classified templates, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing as an input to a processing unit of a computer an input symbol S in the form of an input vector defining an unclassified character having q elements (S=s.sub.1, s.sub.2, s.sub.3, . . . s.sub.k . . . s.sub.j . . . s.sub.q); b) storing within a first storage device associated with said commuter a library of T templates (T.sub.1, T.sub.2, T.sub.3, . . . T.sub.i . . . T.sub.T) to be retrieved by the processing unit for correlation with the input vector, each template in the form of a template vector defining a pre-classified character having q elements (T.sub.i =t.sub.1, t.sub.2, t.sub.3, . . . t.sub.k . . . t.sub.j . . . t.sub.q) forming q pairs of corresponding elements with the q elements of the input vector; c) storing within a second storage device associated with said commuter a comparison inequality function for correlating the input vector with the template vectors, which function defines an element by element correlation calculation (s,t.sub.i), executes an element calculation cycle for each of the q pairs of corresponding elements of the input vector and each retrieved template vector to yield an element term for each pair of corresponding elements, and sums the element terms from previous calculation cycles of the correlation calculation (s,t.sub.i) to yield a cumulative bound after k calculation cycles and a final bound after the completion of q calculation cycles; d) determining an exclusion threshold for excluding the retrieved template if the cumulative bound crosses the exclusion threshold and non-excluding the retrieved template if the cumulative bound does not cross the exclusion threshold; e) causing the processing unit to retrieve an initial template from the library of templates; f) causing the processing unit to initiate the element by element correlation calculation (s,t.sub.i) for the q pairs of corresponding elements from the input symbol and the retrieval template to yield a cumulative bound; g) excluding the retrieved templates if the cumulative bound crosses the exclusion threshold; h) repeating steps f) and g) until the retrieved template has been excluded or until the correlation calculation (s,t.sub.i) for the retrieved template has proceeded to completion to yield a final bound; i) saving the retrieved template if non-excluded; j) causing the processing unit to retrieve a next template from the library of templates; k) repeating steps f) through j) until all of the template vectors have been correlated with the input vector; and l) classifying the unclassified input symbol against the non-excluded pre-classified templates on the basis of the values of the final bound yielded by the correlation calculations.
27. The method of claim 1, wherein the q pairs of corresponding elements in the input vector and the template vector are unsorted and are correlated by the correlation calculation (s,t.sub.i) in sequential order of position within the input vector and the template vector.