[In response to Alfred Tennyson’s poem Vision of Sin, which included the line Every moment dies a man, every moment one is born.] If this were true, the population of the world would be at a stand-still. In truth, the rate of birth is slightly in excess of death. I would suggest that the next edition of your poem should read: Every moment dies a man, every moment 1 [and] 1/16 is born. Strictly speaking, the actual figure is so long I cannot get it into a line, but I believe the figure 1 [and] 1/16 will be sufficiently accurate for poetry.
Charles Babbage