"Is what follows the colon m..."

In fact, the first two factors are equivalent: 10 3\-messages are equivalent to one $~$3^{10}$~$ message, and in general, \$\$n\$ \$k\$\-messages are equivalent to one \$n^k\$\-message\. If the individual n\-messages are dependent on each other, then different $~$n^k$~$ messages have different likelihoods: For example, if message 3 never follows message 2, then in the combined message, "32" never appears as a substring\.

Is what follows the colon meant to be justification for what precedes it? I'm not following.