Transactional Replication to a Version Two Versions Older--Count by Name or Number?
The SQL Server 2012 version of the MSDN page you have linked says (emphasis mine):


  A Subscriber to a transactional publication can be any version within two versions of the Publisher version. For example: a SQL Server 2005 Publisher can have Subscribers running SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 (including SQL Server 2008 R2), or SQL Server 2012; and a SQL Server 2012 Publisher can have Subscribers running SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008 (including SQL Server 2008 R2), or SQL Server 2012.


So, apparently you need to look at numerical versions in this case – meaning that for a SQL Server 2012 publisher the subscriber version should be 11.* ± 2.