scan statistics are used in many areas of science and technology to analyze the occurence of observed clusters of events in time and space. the goal is to determine whether an observed cluster of events occurred by chance if it is assumed that the observed events follow a specified probability model. scan statistics and applications is a comprehensive, edited survey that brings together the work of leading authorities to present the most current advances in theory and methodology for this new area of statistical research and application. the chapters contain broad coverage of theory and new analytical and computational methods and techniques in four categories: introductory survey, discrete scan statistics, continuous scan statistics, and applications. features and topics: * comprehensive introductory survey chapter * discrete scan statistics * finite markov chain imbedding * continuous scan statistics * spatial scan statistics * applications in dna sequence analysis * monte carlo approaches to testing order statistics and spacing the book is a valuable resource and state-of-the-art reference for all practitioners, researchers, and professionals in applied probability and statistics who use scan statistics in their work.