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Comment by nickff | Hacker News Reader

The 'two-sexes approximation' is boolean, not binary. Boolean involves two possible values; binary involves an infinite number of possible values, represented in base-2.[1][2]

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boolean

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary

note: this is a re-post of a comment made on a child of the OP.

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You are contradicted by the very Wikipedia article you posted: "Binary means composed of two pieces or two parts" You look it up in any dictionary and a similar definition will be given, which in the context of the article is a completely correct usage. Binary as a word predates computer science by quite a bit ...

No we are talking about binary.

In the very link you provided: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_binary

if we are considering wiki* sources legitimate, then let's visit the wiktionary page for "binary" that the Wikipedia page for "Binary" links to: [1]. The first definition is:

    Being in a state of one of two mutually exclusive conditions such as on or off, true or false, molten or frozen, presence or absence of a signal

So, the "two-sexes approximation" is binary :)

1: http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/binary

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