PageRank algorithm , Google and outbound links

[madmal]

Does google penalize a page for outbound links?

does an outbound link decrease the page rank of a page?

this all follows from the original page rank algorithm
which divides by c where c is a the number of outbound links from a page?

Does this still hold ?

[Marcia]

No penalty for outbound links, and no decrease to the PR of the page for outbound links. What's derived from dividing is the amount of PR that's credited to the pages that are the object of the outbound links. If there are links to pages off the site it only reduces the amount of PR given to other pages within the site from that particular page.

Having outbound links on a page can benefit the ranking of the page.

[tomapple]

maybe dumb here...how do outbound links on a page improve it's rankings?