binary

Definitions

1. adjective

   Being in one of two mutually exclusive states.

   Examples

   • Binary states are often represented as 1 and 0 in computer science.
   • Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.
2. adjective

   Concerning logic whose subject matter concerns such states.

   Example

   • Near-synonym: Boolean
   ≈Boolean
3. adjective

   Concerning numbers and calculations using the binary number system.

   ≈base-2
4. adjective

   Having two equally important parts; related to something with two parts.

   Examples

   • binary star
   • Two ingredients are combined in a binary poison.
   ≈dyadic≈double≈twin≈binary≈double +3 more
5. adjective

   Of an operation, function, procedure, or logic gate, taking exactly two operands, arguments, parameters, or inputs; having domain of dimension 2.

   Example

   • Division of reals is a binary operation.
6. adjective

   Of data, consisting coded values (e.g. machine code) not interpretable as plain or ASCII text (e.g. source code).

   Example

   • He downloaded the binary distribution for Linux, then burned it to DVD.
   ≠plain text
7. adjective

   Focusing on two mutually exclusive conditions.

   Examples

   • He has a very binary understanding of gender.
   • Yo… you've been staring at a computer screen way too long, homie. Life's not that binary.
8. adjective

   Having or pertaining to a gender identity represented by the gender binary; either male or female.

   ≈gender-binary≠non-binary
9. noun

   A state in which only two values are possible, in which something must have one value or the other.

   Examples

   • The correlation between warmth and cold is an internal one where the existence of one depends on and is defined by the other. Hence, the yin-yang binary as a correlative binary of light-shade or warmth-cold [...]
   • The “in” versus “out” of this sociological model certainly carries to the admittedly simplistic binary of “good” versus “bad” of stereotypes in fictional works and the scholarly approaches to them.
10. noun

    The bijective base-2 numeral system, which uses only the digits 0 and 1.

    Example

    • As our initial exposure to the base 10 number system consisted of learning how to count, it also makes sense that we might begin by learning how to count in binary.
    ≈base 2