  In a variety of applications, such as handwritten mathematics and diagram
labelling, it is common to have symbols of many different sizes in use and for
the writing not to follow simple baselines. In order to understand the scale
and relative positioning of individual characters, it is necessary to identify
the location of certain expected features. These are typically identified by
particular points in the symbols, for example, the baseline of a lower case "p"
would be identified by the lowest part of the bowl, ignoring the descender. We
investigate how to find these special points automatically so they may be used
in a number of problems, such as improving two-dimensional mathematical
recognition and in handwriting neatening, while preserving the original style.
