The series is devoted to the publication of high-level monographs and surveys which cover the whole spectrum of probability and statistics. The books of the series are addressed to both experts and advanced students.

Probability and Statistics theme is a component of Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme with contributions from distinguished experts in the field, discusses Probability and Statistics. Probability is a standard mathematical concept to describe stochastic uncertainty. Probability and Statistics can be considered as the two sides of a coin. They consist of methods for modeling uncertainty and measuring real phenomena. Today many important political, health, and economic decisions are based on statistics. This theme is structured in five main topics: Probability and Statistics; Probability Theory; Stochastic Processes and Random Fields; Probabilistic Models and Methods; Foundations of Statistics, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. These three volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs

Students and teachers of mathematics and related fields will find this book a comprehensive and modern approach to probability theory, providing the background and techniques to go from the beginning graduate level to the point of specialization in research areas of current interest. The book is designed for a two- or three-semester course, assuming only courses in undergraduate real analysis or rigorous advanced calculus, and some elementary linear algebra. A variety of applications—Bayesian statistics, financial mathematics, information theory, tomography, and signal processing—appear as threads to both enhance the understanding of the relevant mathematics and motivate students whose main interests are outside of pure areas.

Among the diverse constructions studied in modern probability theory, the scheme for summation of independent random variables occupies a special place. This book presents a study of distributions of sums of independent random variables with minimal restrictions imposed on their distributions.

In the Preface to the first edition, originally published in 1980, we mentioned that this book was based on the author's lectures in the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics of the Lomonosov University in Moscow, which were issued, in part, in mimeographed form under the title "Probabil ity, Statistics, and Stochastic Processors, I, II" and published by that Univer sity. Our original intention in writing the first edition of this book was to divide the contents into three parts: probability, mathematical statistics, and theory of stochastic processes, which corresponds to an outline of a three semester course of lectures for university students of mathematics. However, in the course of preparing the book, it turned out to be impossible to realize this intention completely, since a full exposition would have required too much space. In this connection, we stated in the Preface to the first edition that only probability theory and the theory of random processes with discrete time were really adequately presented. Essentially all of the first edition is reproduced in this second edition. Changes and corrections are, as a rule, editorial, taking into account com ments made by both Russian and foreign readers of the Russian original and ofthe English and Germantranslations [Sll]. The author is grateful to all of these readers for their attention, advice, and helpful criticisms. In this second English edition, new material also has been added, as follows: in Chapter 111, §5, §§7-12; in Chapter IV, §5; in Chapter VII, §§8-10.