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Comment by dylan604 | Hacker News Reader

That's an assumption on your part, while it might just happen to be true.

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"

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> Typing 130 vs 90 is 3 button presses vs 2

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).

I find it interesting in how the "essentially" same keypad can be used in so many different ways. I've never once used the +30 second button, nor any of the other presets. Even before learning what is used in microwave popcorn, I've never used the popcorn preset button as they always scorched the popcorn. When I do use the microwave, I rarely use it at full power and pretty much always lower it 80% and use it for longer.

I seriously just use the "add 30" button for everything.

It's not an assumption, it's what karmajunkie said two post up.

"It never would have occurred to me to enter numbers on a microwave this way"

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

lol this is not the comment of mine i would have expected to generate controversy…

for the record, i meant entering 90 instead of 130. my entire life i’ve converted to min/sec.

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