They would never have typed 90 seconds instead of 1:30.
Typing 130 vs 90 is 3 button presses vs 2, so the converse would be why type 100 when you could type 60. You can either be a seconds person or a minutes person.
Edit: they entire number entry thing for microwaves is just weird. 60 => 1minute. 100 => 1 minute. 120 => 1minute 20 seconds. Essentially, any 2 digit number is always interpreted as seconds. Which makes me wonder if the Car Talk question wasn't actually "when is 99 > 100"
in what way? entering 90 for 1 minute 30, or for entering 100 for 1 minute vs 60?
It's not clear, and you're not helping
for the record, i meant entering 90 instead of 130. my entire life i’ve converted to min/sec.
For me, it’s not about the difference in number of button presses. I switch between “seconds” and “minutes” depending on the situation. (Sometimes the instructions for frozen food are in seconds. Sometimes they’re in minutes and seconds. But this is just one reason why I might switch between two. There are others.)
Also, number of button presses varies depending on the microwave (e.g. express cooking).
One could even argue that pressing the same +30 second button 3 times is simpler than moving your finger to press 2 buttons for 90 seconds.
(Personally, I tend to press a single “1” for express cooking 1 minute and then click the +30 second button to get 90 seconds. But again, not always).