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Bulgarian National Mathematical Olympiad

Bulgaria geometry

Problem

Given is a circle and a point outside of it. The segment is a diameter of . Find the locus of the orthocenter of , when is changing.

problem
Solution
Let be the center of and be the circle with diameter . Let and be the altitudes of and is the orthocenter. Then the power of with respect to is equal to and the power of with respect to is equal to . Since it follows that lies on the radical axis of and . Conversely, it is easy to see that each point of is an orthocenter of some triangle from given type.

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Alternative solution.

Let , and . Then is the orthocenter of and lies on the polar of point with respect to (Why?). Conversely, it is easy to see that each point of is an orthocenter of some triangle from given type.
Final answer
The locus is the radical axis of k and the circle with diameter AO, equivalently the polar of A with respect to k.

Techniques

Radical axis theoremPolar triangles, harmonic conjugatesConstructions and loci