This is a reprint, with a brief new preface, of a 1991 book published by Springer-Verlag. Although the field has changed, the authors agreed to a reprinting of the book because it stands as an uncluttered tutorial on the seminal concepts. Ghanem (Johns Hopkins U.) and Spanos (Rice University) treat the theories and concepts behind analyzing a class of discrete mathematical models of engineering systems whose properties and excitations can be represented as random processes. They address students and researchers in mechanical and other branches of engineering. Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR