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Follow Signals through a Simple Network

Follow Signals through a Simple Network

Understand how a smaller neural network works with only two layers, each with two neurons.

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How a neural network works

A network with three layers of neurons, with each neuron connected to every other in the previous and next layer, looks pretty amazing. But the idea of calculating how signals progress from the inputs through the layers to become the outputs may seem a little daunting.

We agree that it is hard work, but it is also important to illustrate how a neural network works so we always know what is really happening inside it, even if we later use a computer to do all the work for us. So, let’s try looking at a smaller neural network with only two layers, each with two neurons. This is shown in the illustration below.

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Neural network with two layers
Neural network with two layers

Let’s imagine the two inputs are 1.01.0 and 0.50.5. The following illustration shows these inputs entering this smaller neural network.

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Two-layered neural network with inputs
Two-layered neural network with inputs

Just like before, each node turns the sum of the inputs into an output using an activation function. We will also use the sigmoid function

y=11+exy = \frac{1}{1 + e^{-x}} ...