straightforward mathematical analysis is developed in this paper to promote understanding of properties of the Hopfield network when it is used as a CAM. By introducing a concept of non-orthogonal degree d of a p-set n-binary stored patterns
the capacity of the network
i. e.
the maximum number of stable stored patterns
is (n + d)/(d + 1) in the worst case; and the stability degree k*
a quantity describing the radius of convergence basin
is positively proportional to n - p - (p - 1) d and inversely proportional to p. Concepts of associative pattern and spurious pattern are considered; About spurious patterns
we have provedthat in some special cases sgn () are spurious patterns