Disclosed is a method and an apparatus for recognizing and displaying handwritten characters and figures in which input stroke information on a handwritten input character or figure is read out by an electromagnetic tablet (3), recognition means (7) performs character/figure recognition on the basis of the feature of the input stroke information, display means (2) displays the input stroke information and the result of recognition, and when the result of recognition is displayed on a display screen of the display means, stroke information having been used for recognition is erased from the display screen, and stroke information which is not yet used for recognition, is left on the display screen.