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Geometry Difficulty 4.6 AIME Prove it Brazil

The vertex CC of the triangle ABCABC is allowed to vary along a line parallel to ABAB. Find the locus of the orthocenter.

Solution

Take axes so that A=(a,0)A = (-a, 0), B=(a,0)B = (a, 0) and C=(k,b)C = (k, b). Then the orthocenter lies on the line x=kx = k. The line ACAC has gradient bk+a\frac{b}{k+a}, so the perpendicular has gradient k+ab-\frac{k+a}{b}. Hence the altitude from BB has equation y+(xa)(k+a)b=0y + \frac{(x-a)(k+a)}{b} = 0. So the intersection is x=k,y=(ka)(k+a)bx = k, y = -\frac{(k-a)(k+a)}{b}. So the locus is all or part of the parabola by=a2x2by = a^2 - x^2. But we can get an orthocenter with any x-coordinate (by taking CC to have the same x-coordinate), so we can get all points on the parabola.

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