Spelling Correction by Vector Representation Using a Digital Computer

Digital computers are widely used in the mechanical operations involved in publishing; one application may be to one of the classes of editorial functions which requires no judgment-the detection and correction of misspelled words. This paper describes a computer program written to correct spelling errors through vector representation. Words are uniquely identified through their vectors, and comparison of the vectors of input words with stored vectors permits the detection and correction of four common types of spelling errors. The program is considerably more efficient than programs which use dictionary look-up and letter-by-letter comparison of the stored word with the input word. With appropriate vectors, a similar method could be used to scan sentences and perform other editorial functions.