Chapter 8 – Solving the XOR Problem with a Feedforward Neural Network
- Can the perceptron alone solve the XOR problem? (Yes | No)
Yes. The answer would have been no in 1969. A neural network, or some other mathematical process, is necessary to solve this problem. For the record, this is a common problem for electric circuits that function with "feedforward" electricity, and was solved long ago.
- Is the XOR function linearly non-separable? (Yes | No)
The answer is no if you use a single neuron, and yes if you use a hidden layer with at least two neurons. That is a major problem to address in deep learning. If you cannot separate the features of a face, for example, in a picture, recognizing that face will prove difficult. Imagine a picture with one half of the face in shadow and the other half in bright sunlight. Since the eye and features of one half are in shadow, a poor deep learning program might only capture half...