Boltzmann Machine - Solutions

It is best not to read the answers until you've tried to answer the questions yourself.

What similarities are there between the Boltzmann machine and a Hopfield net?

Answer: Processing units have binary values; connections between units are symmetric but have no self-feedback; units are picked one at a time for updating.
How does thermal equilibrium feature in the Boltzmann machine?

Answer: The flipping procedure is repeatedly applied until thermal equilibrium is reached (i.e. units will continue to change with more flipping, but distribution of states reaches equilibrium). This is done at each of a decreasing sequence of temperatures, in accordance with an annealing schedule.
What is the energy equation for the Boltzmann machine?

Answer: E = –½ Σ_iΣ_j≠iw_jis_js_i