The past several years have seen the creation and extension of a very conclusive theory of statistics and probability. Many of the research workers who have been concerned with both probability and statistics felt the need for meetings that provide an opportunity for personal con tacts among scholars whose fields of specialization cover broad spectra in both statistics and probability: to discuss major open problems and new solutions, and to provide encouragement for further research through the lectures of carefully selected scholars, moreover to introduce to younger colleagues the latest research techniques and thus to stimulate their interest in research. To meet these goals, the series of Pannonian Symposia on Mathematical Statistics was organized, beginning in the year 1979: the first, second and fourth one in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Burgenland, Austria, the third and fifth in Visegrad, Hungary. The Sixth Pannonian Symposium was held in Bad Tatzmannsdorf again, in the time between 14 and 20 September 1986, under the auspices of Dr. Heinz FISCHER, Federal Minister of Science and Research, Theodor KERY, President of the State Government of Burgenland, Dr. Franz SAUERZOPF, Vice-President of the State Govern ment of Burgenland and Dr. Josef SCHMIDL, President of the Austrian Sta tistical Central Office. The members of the Honorary Committee were Pal ERDOS, WXadisXaw ORLICZ, Pal REVESz, Leopold SCHMETTERER and Istvan VINCZE; those of the Organizing Committee were Wilfried GROSSMANN (Uni versity of Vienna), Franz KONECNY (University of Agriculture of Vienna) and, as the chairman, Wolfgang WERTZ (Technical University of Vienna)."

The past several years have seen the creation and extension of a very conclusive theory of statistics and probability. Many of the research workers who have been concerned with both probability and statistics felt the need for meetings that provide an opportunity for personal con tacts among scholars whose fields of specialization cover broad spectra in bothstatistics and probability: to discuss major open problems and new solutions, and to provide encouragement for further research through the lectures of carefully selected scholars, moreover to introduce to younger colleagues the latest research techniques and thus to stimulate their interest in research. To meet these goals, the series of Pannonian Symposia on Mathematical Statistics was organized, beginning in the year 1979: the first, second and fourth one in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Burgenland, Austria, the third and fifth in Visegrad, Hungary. The Sixth Pannonian Symposium was held in Bad Tatzmannsdorf again, in the time between 14 and 20 September 1986, under the auspices of Dr. Heinz FISCHER, Federal Minister of Science and Research, Theodor KERY, President of the State Government of Burgenland, Dr. Franz SAUERZOPF, Vice-President of the State Govern ment of Burgenland and Dr. Josef SCHMIDL, President of the Austrian Sta tistical Central Office. The members of the Honorary Committee were Pal ERDOS, WXadisXaw ORLICZ, Pal REVESZ, Leopold SCHMETTERER and Istvan VINCZE; those of the Organizing Committee were Wilfried GROSSMANN (Uni versity of Vienna), Franz KONECNY (University of Agriculture of Vienna) and, as the chairman, Wolfgang WERTZ (Technical University of Vienna) ."

The past several years have seen the creation and extension of a very conclusive theory of statistics and probability. Many of the research workers who have been concerned with both probability and statistics felt the need for meetings that provide an opportunity for personal con tacts among scholars whose fields of specialization cover broad spectra in both statistics and probability: to discuss major open problems and new solutions, and to provide encouragement for further research through the lectures of carefully selected scholars, moreover to introduce to younger colleagues the latest research techniques and thus to stimulate their interest in research. To meet these goals, the series of Pannonian Symposia on Mathematical Statistics was organized, beginning in the year 1979: the first, second and fourth one in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Burgenland, Austria, the third and fifth in Visegrad, Hungary. The Sixth Pannonian Symposium was held in Bad Tatzmannsdorf again, in the time between 14 and 20 September 1986, under the auspices of Dr. Heinz FISCHER, Federal Minister of Science and Research, Theodor KERY, President of the State Government of Burgenland, Dr. Franz SAUERZOPF, Vice-President of the State Govern ment of Burgenland and Dr. Josef SCHMIDL, President of the Austrian Sta tistical Central Office. The members of the Honorary Committee were Pal ERDOS, WXadisXaw ORLICZ, Pal REVESz, Leopold SCHMETTERER and Istvan VINCZE; those of the Organizing Committee were Wilfried GROSSMANN (Uni versity of Vienna), Franz KONECNY (University of Agriculture of Vienna) and, as the chairman, Wolfgang WERTZ (Technical University of Vienna)."

The first Pannonian Symposium on Mathematical Statistics was held at Bad Tatzmannsdorf (Burgenland/Austria) from September 16th to 21st, 1979. The aim of it was to furthe~ and intensify scientific cooperation in the Pannonian area, which, in a broad sense, can be understood to cover Hungary, the eastern part of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and parts of Poland, Yugoslavia and Romania. The location of centers of research in mathematical statistics and probability theory in this territory has been a good reason for the geographical limitation of this meeting. About 70 researchers attended this symposium, and 49 lectures were delivered; a considerable part of the presented papers is collected in this volume. Beside the lectures, vigorous informal discussions among the participants took place, so that many problems were raised and possible ways of solutions were attacked. We take the opportunity to thank Dr. U. Dieter (Graz), Dr. F. Konecny (Wien), Dr. W. Krieger (G8ttingen) and Dr. E. Neuwirth (Wien) for their valuable help in the refereeing work for this volume. The Pannonian Symposium could not have taken place without the support of several institutions: The Austrian Ministry for Research and Science, the State government of Burgenland, the Community Bad Tatzmannsdorf, the Kurbad Tatzmannsdorf AG, the Austrian Society for Information Science and Statistics, IBM Austria, Volksbank Oberwart, Erste Osterreichische Spar-Casse and Spielbanken AG Austria. The Austrian Academy of Sciences iv made possible the participation in the Symposium for several mathematicians. We express our gratitude to all these institutions for their generous help.