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ciphergoth comments on The Cognitive Science of Rationality - LessWrong
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Common usage puts the other one first: "The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one"
This is an unfortunate shortening of "a million to one against", which would be correct.
I thought that "a million to one" always meant "a million to one against", and you had to specify "a million to one on" when necessary.
My survey of one agrees with you - I would definitely have thought of this the other way around though.
Perhaps what people have in mind when they say that are betting odds. If you bet money on an unlikely event then the odds are quoted with the high number (your reward if the event occurs) first, which seems sensible from an advertising perspective.