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Difference Between Probability and Odds

Posted on July 31, 2011 by admin

Probability vs Odds

Real life is full of incidents with uncertainty. The

terms probability and odds measure one’s belief in
the occurrence of a future event. It may confuse
since both ‘Odds’ and ‘probability’ are related to the
potential that event occurs. However, there is a
difference. Probability is a broader mathematical
concept. However odds is another method for
calculating probability.

Probability

In classical theory, Probability is used to calculate the likelihood that something will happen; as a
ratio, the number of desired outcomes to the total number of possible outcomes, which is expressed
as a number between 0 to 1, where 0 implying “impossible” and 1 implying “certain” or “sure”. This is
also expressed as the “chance” of occurrence of the event. In this, case the scale is from 0% to
100%.

For an experiment, whose outcomes are equally likely, the probability of an event E, denoted by P(E),
can be expressed mathematically as: the number of outcomes favorable to E divide by the total
number of possible outcomes.

For example, if we have 10 marbles in a jar, 4 blue and 6 green, then the probability of drawing a
green is 6/10 or 3/5. There are 6 chances of getting a green marble and total number of chances of
getting a marble is 10. The probability of drawing a blue is 4/10 or 2/5.

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Odds

The Odds of an event is an alternative way of expressing the likelihood of its occurrence. That can be
expressed as a ratio of the number of favorable outcomes to the number no of unfavorable
outcomes, i.e. odds = number of favorable outcomes: number of unfavorable outcomes.

Since there are 6 chances of you picking a green, and 4 chances of picking a red, the odds is 6 : 4 in
favor of picking a green. The odds is 4 : 6 in favor of picking a blue.

The idea of odds comes from gambling. Even probability is easy to work mathematically, but harder
to apply in gambling. That’s why we have two different ways to express the concept. If we know the
odds in favor of an event, the probability is just the odds divided by one plus the odds. Odds depends
on the probability. Odds can be calculated using probability. Probability can also be converted into an
odd. Simply, the odds in favor of an event is division of probability of that event by one minus the
probability: i.e. Odds = Probability/(1-Probability). If the odds in favor of an event is known, the
probability is just the odds divided by one plus the odds: i.e. Probability= Odds/(1+Odds).

What is the difference between Probability and Odds?

• Probability is expressed as a number between 0 and 1, while Odds is

expressed as a ratio.

• Probability ensures that an event will occur, but Odds is used to find out
whether the event will ever occur.

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"Difference Between Probability and Odds." DifferenceBetween.Com. July 31, 2011. < http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-
between-probability-and-vs-odds/ >

Filed Under: Mathematics

Tagged With: chance, desired outcomes, occurrence, odd, odds, possible outcomes, probability, Uncertainty

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