1. A method in a computer system for generating a shape feature probability matrix for use in recognizing handwritten characters, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of sample handwritten characters each sample handwritten character representing a character and having a sequence of one or more strokes each stroke represented by one of a plurality of shape features that describes a shape of the stroke; determining for each sample handwritten character a shape feature string that represents that character, the shape feature string having the shape feature of each stroke in the sequence of one or more strokes for that character, each of the shape features in a shape feature string having a place within the shape feature string based on the sequence in which the described stroke was handwritten in the sample handwritten character; for each possible combination of pairs of the plurality of shape features, generating a match count, for all possible pairs of shape feature strings representing the plurality of handwritten characters, of all occurrences of the combination in which one of the shape features of the combination is at a place within one of the pair of shape feature strings, in which the other of the shape features of the combination is at the same place within the other of the pair of shape feature strings, and in which each of the pair of shape feature strings represents the same character; generating a total count, for all possible pairs of shape feature strings representing the plurality of handwritten characters, of all occurrences of the combination in which one of the shape features of the combination is at a place within one of the pair of shape feature strings and in which the other of the shape features of the combination is at the same place within the other of the pair of shape feature strings; calculating a probability value based on the generated match count and the generated total count; and storing the calculated probability value for the combination of the shape features in the shape feature probability matrix, so that the stored probability values can be used to recognize handwritten characters.
1. A method in a computer system for generating a shape feature probability matrix for use in recognizing handwritten characters, the method comprising: receiving a plurality of sample handwritten characters each sample handwritten character representing a character and having a sequence of one or more strokes each stroke represented by one of a plurality of shape features that describes a shape of the stroke; determining for each sample handwritten character a shape feature string that represents that character, the shape feature string having the shape feature of each stroke in the sequence of one or more strokes for that character, each of the shape features in a shape feature string having a place within the shape feature string based on the sequence in which the described stroke was handwritten in the sample handwritten character; for each possible combination of pairs of the plurality of shape features, generating a match count, for all possible pairs of shape feature strings representing the plurality of handwritten characters, of all occurrences of the combination in which one of the shape features of the combination is at a place within one of the pair of shape feature strings, in which the other of the shape features of the combination is at the same place within the other of the pair of shape feature strings, and in which each of the pair of shape feature strings represents the same character; generating a total count, for all possible pairs of shape feature strings representing the plurality of handwritten characters, of all occurrences of the combination in which one of the shape features of the combination is at a place within one of the pair of shape feature strings and in which the other of the shape features of the combination is at the same place within the other of the pair of shape feature strings; calculating a probability value based on the generated match count and the generated total count; and storing the calculated probability value for the combination of the shape features in the shape feature probability matrix, so that the stored probability values can be used to recognize handwritten characters. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein each shape feature string has a feature length indicating the number of feature shapes in the shape feature string and wherein generating the total count includes: for each of the plurality of shape features, for each of a plurality of possible places within a feature string, for each of a plurality of possible feature lengths, generating a shape/place/length count of a number of times that the shape feature occurs at the place within a shape feature string having the feature length; and for each possible combination of pairs of the plurality of shape features, for each of the plurality of possible places within a feature string, for each of the possible feature lengths, multiplying the shape/place/length count for one of the shape features of the combination by the shape/place/length count for the other shape feature of the combination for the place and the feature length to generate a product; and accumulating the generated products as the total count for the combination of shape features.