These are introductory lectures for a general audience that give an overview
of the subject of matrix models and their application to random surfaces, 2d
gravity, and string theory. They are intentionally 1.5 years out of date.
0. Canned Diatribe, Introduction, and Apologies
1. Discretized surfaces, matrix models, and the continuum limit
2. All genus partition functions
3. KdV equations and other models
4. Quick tour of Liouville theoryComment: Trieste Lectures (July, 1991), 40p
