2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/10338These lectures cover the basics of inflationary models for the early universe, concentrating particularly on the generation of density fluctuations from scalar-field dynamics. The subsequent gravitational dynamics of these fluctuations in dark matter in a Friedmann model are described, leading to a review of the current situation in confronting inflationary models with the latest data on the clustering of galaxies and other measures of large-scale structure.Lectures given at the EADN summer school "The structure of the universe", Leiden, July 1995. 77 pages TeX with macros included. Postscript figures from ftp://ftp.roe.ac.uk/pub/jap/leiden/Astrophysicstext