Symmetric Multivariate and Related Distributions

Book excerpt: This book represents the joint effort of three authors, located thousands of miles apart from one another, and its preparation was greatly facilitated by modern communication technology. lt may serve as an additional example of international co-operation among statisticians specializing in statistical distribution theory. In essence we have attempted to amass and digest widely scattered information on multivariate symmetric distributions which has appeared in the Iiterature during the last two decades. Introductory remarks at the beginning of each chapter summarize its content and clarify the importance and applicability of the distributions discussed in these chapters; it seems unnecessary, therefore, to dwell in this Preface on the content of the volume. It should be noted that this work was initiated by the first author, who provided continuous impetus to the project, and a great many of tbe results presented in tbe book stem from bis own researcb or tbe research of bis associates and students during the last 15 years.