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 interaction of various ideas from different researchers provides a main impetus to mathematical prosress. An important way to make communication possible is through international conferences on more or less spezialized topics~ The existence of several centers for research in probabil ity and statistics in the eastern part of central Europe - somewhat vaguely described as the Pannonian area - led to the idea of organizing Pannonian Symposia on Mathematical Statistics (PS~1S). The second such symposium was held at Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Burgenland (Austria), from 14 to 20 June 1981. About 100 researchers from 13 countries participated in that event and about 70 papers were delivered. Most of the papers dealt with one of the following topics: nonparametric estimation theory, asymptotic theory of estimation, invariance principles, limit theorems and aoplications. Full versions of selected papers, all presenting new results are included in this volume. The editors take this opportunity to thank the following institutions for their assistance in making the conference possible: the Provincial Government of Burgenland, the Austrian Ministry for Research and Science, the Burgenland Chamber of Commerce, the Control Data Corporation, the Austrian Society for Statistics and Informatics, the Landes- hypothekenbank Burgenland, the Volksbank Oberwart, and the Community and Kurbad AG of Bad Tatzmannsdorf. We are also greatly indebted to all those persons who helped in editing this volume and in particular to the vii W. Grossmann et al. reds.), Probability and Statistical Inference, vii-viii.

The Fourth Pannonian Symposium on Mathematical Statistics was held in Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Austria, 4-10 September, 1983. The first two Symposia were held there in 1979 and 1981; whereas the Third Symposium was staged in Visegrad, Hungary in 1982. The proceedings volumes of these conferences, published by Springer, D. Reidel, and D. Reidel & Akademiai Kiad6, respec tively give information about the objectives of the Pannonian Symposia and the topics covered. About 130 participants from 17 countries took part in this Fourth Symposium, and 92 lectures were presented. This volume contains 21 reviewed contributions which cover various aspects of the application of mathematical statistics. A second group of papers dealing with problems of probability theory and decision theory is published in a separate volume entitled "Probability and Statistidal Decision Theory." Roughly speaking, the papers can be grouped into three main categories. The first group is the application of probability theory. A special type of application is shown in the invited paper of P. Erdos, namely probabilistic methods in number theory. Further models of applied probability covered by the papers are game theory, urn models, best choice models and random graphs. The second group could be best characterized by the term mathematical statistics for models of real data. Such models are linear models, regression, discrimination, time series, analysis of censored data, goodness of fit approxima tion of processes. The papers show the increasing importance of VII new theoretical results (i. e."

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)."

Proceedings of the 5th Pannonian Symposium, Visegrad, Hungary, May 20-24, 1985

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)."

Proceedings of the 4th Pannonian Symposium on Mathematical Statistics, Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Austria, 4-10 September 1983, Volume A.

The interaction of various ideas from different researchers provides a main impetus to mathematical prosress. An important way to make communication possible is through international conferences on more or less spezialized topics~ The existence of several centers for research in probabil ity and statistics in the eastern part of central Europe - somewhat vaguely described as the Pannonian area - led to the idea of organizing Pannonian Symposia on Mathematical Statistics (PS~1S). The second such symposium was held at Bad Tatzmannsdorf, Burgenland (Austria), from 14 to 20 June 1981. About 100 researchers from 13 countries participated in that event and about 70 papers were delivered. Most of the papers dealt with one of the following topics: nonparametric estimation theory, asymptotic theory of estimation, invariance principles, limit theorems and aoplications. Full versions of selected papers, all presenting new results are included in this volume. The editors take this opportunity to thank the following institutions for their assistance in making the conference possible: the Provincial Government of Burgenland, the Austrian Ministry for Research and Science, the Burgenland Chamber of Commerce, the Control Data Corporation, the Austrian Society for Statistics and Informatics, the Landes- hypothekenbank Burgenland, the Volksbank Oberwart, and the Community and Kurbad AG of Bad Tatzmannsdorf. We are also greatly indebted to all those persons who helped in editing this volume and in particular to the vii W. Grossmann et al. reds.), Probability and Statistical Inference, vii-viii.