  In these lecture notes for the Les Houches School on Applications of Random
Matrices in Physics we give an introduction to the connections between matrix
models and topological strings. We first review some basic results of matrix
model technology and then we focus on type B topological strings. We present
the main results of Dijkgraaf and Vafa describing the spacetime string dynamics
on certain Calabi-Yau backgrounds in terms of matrix models, and we emphasize
the connection to geometric transitions and to large N gauge/string duality. We
also use matrix model technology to analyze large N Chern-Simons theory and the
Gopakumar-Vafa transition.
