patterns counting letters in vords

[ThomasCoon]

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In order to do this you will have to make decisions on how to count several letters. For example you could count a gallow as 1 or 2 or count Sh as 3 or 1 or 2 etc.
A quick exercise showed me this is not so simple as it looks and should not be waved immediately.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!!! THIS is EXACTLY what has been be-deviling me for years (I've mentioned it in some of my responses to Thomas Coon's work). I noticed it years ago but whenever I think I have it ALMOST figured out, I discover that the last 10% is very difficult to reconcile.

I don't want to speak for Thomas, he can comment on his own, but I'm sure he has discovered the same thing—his charts indicate that he has stepped into this murky pool as well.

For those who wonder why all the exclamation points, it's because this is a key aspect of the text. There is a pattern in the way the text is laid down and whether something is a monoglyph, biglyph, or ligature, affects everything... entropy, interpretation of the letters, identification of possible nulls, significance of the gallows, significance of the spaces and more. In other words, the "count" matters—it determines how one breaks down the text.

JKP is right, I've been working on this frustrating thing too. And whenever it feels like I have pulled away the curtain and become the first person in 600 years to stare at the hidden inner mechanisms of the VMS, everything falls apart within a day. But for those few hours it's a wonderful feeling.

JKP is clearly farther along the trail than I am and can see much more of the overall pattern. But it's 100% clear that the way letters are arranged - which letters pair up, which letters follow each other - is often beyond statistical chance and is therefore significant. So Davidsch and JKP, I support both of your work