[Blog Post] Rightward and Downward in the Voynich Manuscript - Patrick Feaster

[pfeaster]

For the Daiin image: I do not understand why the red bar is there so in the middle and not more evenly distributed, 
more something like the Ok-ot image.  Could I ask you once more (sorry) to explain what we are looking at here in the daiin image, what explains the pixels filled and what if they are black?

The red lines represent overall distribution, as opposed to the distribution of whatever specific phenomenon we're trying to examine.  In the [daiin] image, red shows the overall distribution of vords, so that the brightest bands represent the most common line lengths and the darkest bands represent the least common ones.  Ten- and eleven-vord lines show up brightest.  The blue and green channels then show the distribution of [daiin] specifically.  The brightness scales are different -- all channels are maximized, which is to say that the highest value for each one, whatever it comes out to be, is scaled to the maximum pixel value of 255.  But in general a redder tint should reveal an area where [daiin] is relatively less common, while a more blue-green tint should reveal an area where it's relatively more common.  Black means [daiin] is uncommon, but vords in lines of that length are also uncommon in general.  White means [daiin] is very common, but so are lines of that length in general.

With the [ok] and [ot] display, the red shows the overall distribution of glyphs by line length as *counted* in glyphs, and the spread of values is larger than the spread of values for line lengths counted in vords, so that values are a bit more evenly distributed.  (My impression is that the bulk of blue-green values "sloshes" from right to left as the images alternate, with possibly some additional top-bottom "sloshing" at the far left.  I *think* this provides decent evidence of a positional imbalance extending throughout lines of all lengths, but I hope someone will give me a wake-up call if I'm being a cheshire about this.)