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ENGLISH

What word or phrase would be good to use in Esperanto to express the idea of odds, when betting or gambling? "The odds are 3 to 1", "The odds are 1 in a million", "Current odds: 203 on Hank, 341 on Mike", that sort of thing.


ESPERANTO

Kiun vorton aŭ frazon oni uzu en Esperanto por anstataŭigi la anglan vorton odds, en la kunteksto de vetado kaj hazardludoj? "The odds are 3 to 1", "The odds are 1 in a million", "Current odds: 203 on Hank, 341 on Mike", io tia.

3 Answers 3

3

La ŝanco estas 1 je miliono.

Nunaj ŝancoj: 203 por Hank, 431 por Mike.

As Ebleco de sukceso (Reta Vortaro). The English plural of odds probably is not always deserving a plural in Esperanto.

Mathematically of course probableco is better.

1

In English the word "odds" is used in many ways;

Mathematically, the probability of an event A is a number between 0 and 1, while the odds of event A is the probability of event A divided by the probability of not-A. This distinction between odds and probability is not always clear in non-technical English, as the interpretation is often

odds of A is 3 to 1 => probability of A is 1/(1+3)=1/4

odds of A is 1 in 3 => probability of A is 1/3

To make things even more confusing, in sport bettings they use the convention

odds of Liverpool winning is 4.0 => probability of Liverpool winning is 1/4


To my knowledge and after some searching, I believe there is no word in Esperanto for "odds" as a mathematical term. Therefore, I suggest that your translations should be explicit

For the phrase "The odds are 3 to 1" I would write

La probablo/probablece de tio estas 3obla pli granda ol de la mala.

or avoid the odds altogether by writing

La probablo/probableco estas 1/4

Likewise "The odds are one in a million"

La probablo estas 1/1,000,000.

For "Current odds: 203 on Hank, 341 on Mike", I would write

Nuna repagkvanto: 203-obla por Hank, 341-obla por Mike

0

I think the word you are looking for is "probableco."

2
  • Can you really say that in these contexts? "Nuna probableco: 203 al Hank, 341 al Mike". That doesn't in itself include the notion that you get paid according to that ratio, for example, right? Perhaps that's just meant to be understood by the pragmatics of it, in the contexts in which it occurs? It could work, but I was hoping there would be a more specialized, unambiguous term for it. Jun 21, 2019 at 22:53
  • 1
    Odds in this context are probabilities. It's purely a ratio. I don't think that there is a better term, but I will look and see.
    – Karlomanio
    Jun 21, 2019 at 22:55

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