Handwriting is rarely a subject of scientific research. Although one can find numerous handwriting analysis tests on internet and some of the recruitment agencies employ this method for selection of candidates, the findings are rarely based on objective scientific research. However, this is not true when handwriting is a research subject for mathematicians. ‘We explore handwriting as an object of fractal geometry with different finishing of the letter borders and density of filling up the space’, says PhD student at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) Mantas Landauskas.
The website created by Landauskas and his colleagues offers to analyse your own handwriting: in about 7 seconds after submitting the sample you will see, which group it belongs to and which celebrity’s handwriting it reminds more closely.
The method created by KTU mathematicians allows to compare your handwriting with that of famous historical figures and celebrities from various times.
Is Your Handwriting Similar to Einstein’s?
‘While performing analysis we compare two parameters: fractal dimension and entropy. The fractal dimension is a certain ‘messiness’ of the handwriting and the entropy criteria indicates the amount of hidden information (for example, when you are trying to mimic somebody else’s handwriting)’, says Landauskas.
By the way, mathematicians’ description of a ‘messy’ handwriting is different from your primal school teacher’s. According to them, a handwriting can appear very messy, but be very orderly from geometrical point of view: i. e., it is written with firm hand, its bows and corners of the letters have a repetitive pattern.
After analysing handwriting samples of 55 historical personalities 5 handwriting categories were distinguished.
If after analysing your own sample your handwriting will fall into the 1st category, it is possible that you write similarly to Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein or Abraham Lincoln, if it falls into the 2nd – you are probably writing similarly to Princess Diana or Adolf Hitler, the ‘authors’ falling into the 3rd category are enjoying the company of Marie Curie and Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas, those from the 4th category write similarly to Franz Kafka or Ekaterina II, and handwriting of those from the 5th resemble Obama’s or Pablo Picasso samples.
According to Landauskas, the biographies of the famous personalities and data vary therefore the findings are quite generalised.
Handwriting Is An Indicator of Tiredness
The young KTU researcher assumes that the handwriting analysis could become a priceless tool for various kind of research which could be performed collaborating with psychologists. For example, one could count correlations between certain personality traits and mathematical handwriting analysis.
Landauskas and his team have noticed that fractal dimension of a handwriting is going up with increasing tiredness of a subject.
‘So far, only minimal research has been done, but there is potential possibility to apply handwriting analysis in the future for monitoring long distance drivers’ condition. If a driver put their signature up to three times during regular intervals and the increase of the fractal dimension was noticed, he would be recommended to take a longer break’, says Landauskas.
Numbers Can Explain Everything
According to the researcher, mathematics is in the background of everything that needs exact calculations.
‘Mathematicians work in various businesses: just recently we have applied complicated calculations for developing monitoring system for the quality of sweets, mathematical modelling can be applied for logistics in order to optimise costs, and mathematical models in finance is quite a common application of this science’, says Landauskas.
In other words: one can analyse, calculate and research everything. Landauskas, PhD student of KTU Mathematical Modelling department thinks that many enterprises underestimate the value that a mathematician can bring to the company.
