[Heartlander]

False. Odds are not products of probabilities.

Please explain…

Selection creates dependencies.

Sir, with all due respect, I believe your argument to be dependencies create selection.

[Lev]

False. Odds are not products of probabilities.

Please explain...

What are the chances that a randomly chosen voter voted for Bush? About 1/2. What are the chances a voter is fiscally conservative? About 1/2. What are the chances a voter voted for Bush AND is fiscally conservative? The answer is not 1/4.

[Doctor Stochastic]

This is not the place for a discussion of elementary probability theory. You should take a good college course in introductory probability theory. There are also sites on the Web that have good explanations.

Short explanation: odds for are the ratio of "favorable" cases to "unfavorable" caes (odds against is the reciprocal). Probability is the ration of "favorable" cases to total cases. For example in flipping a fair coin, the probability of getting heads is 1/2 but the odds of getting heads is 1/1. On an ordinary die, the probability of throwing an ace is 1/6 but the odds against are 5/1.