stroke stroke length within and without the bounding region the computed distance or the computed percentage can then be compared to a corresponding predetermined threshold value so as to determine whether a given stroke should be deemed a member of the bounding region the u201c stroke membership u201d bounding region concept is illustrated by way of example with reference to fig3 b as shown the cursive word u201c to u201d comprises two recorded strokes u2014 one stroke t 1 for the word u201c to u201d and one stroke t 2 for the crossing of the u201c t u201d character the first stroke t 1 may have bounding region b 1 and the second stroke t 2 may have bounding region b 2 based on the distance between b 1 and b 2 for example the strokes may be combined and become members of bounding region b 3 it is to be understood by those skilled in the art that depending on the application the bounding region b 3 may be computed by adding bounding regions b 1 and b 2 as shown or stroke t 2 may just be added as a member of bounding region b 1 without adding the data.