The First Saudi Symposium on Statistics and its Applications was held at King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the period 19-22 Rajab 1403A.H. (2-5 May 1983 A.D.). The symposium was considered to be the largest gathering of Saudi statisticians. It was also attended by distinguished statisticians from United States, The United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey and some Arab countries.
A number of departments in the university collaborated to bring the symposium to a successful conclusion. Mention is made of the university libraries, the university public relations office and the university press. The strong support given to the organizing committee by the dean of the College of Science, Dr. Muteb, the Vice-Rectorfor Research and Graduate Studies, Dr. S. Athel and the Rector of the university Dr. M. AI-Turki is gratefully acknowledged.
Each paper presented to the symposium was sent to two referees. Based on the referees' reports thirty-six papers were accepted for publication.
The Editorial Committee would like to thank all the referees for their efforts which ensured the quality of the published material.
We are particularly grateful to our colleagues in the department of statistics for their invaluable help, and to Mr. 1. Al-Salhat the departmental secretary for his patience and deligence in connection with the preparation of the manuscripts.
 

The Editors