Setting the Table

by Kevin J. Lin

After school you work at the local greasy spoon waiting on tables. At the end of a particularly long shift, another waiter challenges you to a variation of "Don't Tip The Waiter."

He proposes the following game:

Each of you will take turns placing plates on a clean table. All the plates must be the same size, lie flat on the table, and no plate may overlap another. The first person who is unable to place another plate on the table without it falling off or moving another place must wash the dishes for the next week.

The table is a perfect circle, with a five foot diameter. Each plate is also a perfect circle with a ten inch diameter.

If you are given the choice of going first or second, which do you choose, and what will your strategy be?

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