ABSTRACT
Observational astronomers tend to use N-body simulations in a rather cavalier manner, both as a tool for interpreting existing astronomical data, and as a powerful technique by which new observations can be motivated. This chapter illustrates the profitable interplay between simulations and observations in the study of galaxy dynamics. It provides an introduction to the sorts of data that can be obtained in order to study the dynamical properties of galaxies. The chapter discusses the intrinsic stellar dynamics and the role that N-body simulations can play in the modelling process. It provides further examples from studies of disk galaxies, concentrating on barred systems. The examples give some sense of the productive interplay between kinematic observations of galaxies and N-body simulations of these systems. The chapter contains some speculations as to what may lie in the future for the productive relationship between observations and N-body modelling.
