After reading Lord Tennyson's poetic-licensed notedline,“Every moment dies a man/Every moment one is born,”The accuracy-crazed Charles Babbage(English mathematician andinventor,1792-1871) wrote to the poet:“It must be manifest that if this were true, the population of the world would be at astandstill.”Babbage's recommended change:“Every momentdies a man/Every moment 17/16 is born.”
在读了丁尼生勋爵的著名诗句“每分钟有一个人死去/每分钟有一个人出生”后,讲究精确的查尔斯·巴贝奇(英国数学家和发明家,1792-1871)给诗人写信说:“如果这是真的,那么显然世界上的人口将没有变化。”巴贝奇建议改成这样:“每分钟有一个人死去/每分钟有17/16个人出生。”