Given a circle O with radius R, and an inscribed acute scalene triangle ABC where AB is the largest side, let AHA,BHB,CHC be the altitudes from A,B,C to BC,CA,AB respectively. Let D be the symmetric point of HA with respect to HBHC, and E be the symmetric point of HB with respect to HAHC. Let P be the intersection of AD and BE, and H be the orthocenter of △ABC. We aim to prove that OP⋅OH is fixed and find this value in terms of R.
To solve this, we use complex numbers and the properties of the orthocenter and the circumcircle. Let the circumcircle of △ABC be the unit circle in the complex plane. The orthocenter H of △ABC can be represented as h=a+b+c, where a,b,c are the complex numbers corresponding to the vertices A,B,C respectively.
The feet of the altitudes HA,HB,HC can be expressed as:
ha=21(a+b+c−abc),
and similarly for hb and hc.
The point P, which is the pole of H with respect to the circumcircle, is given by:
p=h1=ab+bc+acabc.
Next, we compute the symmetric points D and E. Let X be the foot of the perpendicular from HA to HBHC. Solving for X using the properties of perpendiculars in the complex plane, we find:
2x=ha+hb+a2(hb−ha),
which simplifies to:
d=2x−ha=21(a+b+c−bac−cab+bca3).
We then show that D,A, and P are collinear by computing:
d−ad−a=a−pa−p=ab+ac+bca3(a+b+c).
Finally, since P is the pole of H with respect to the circumcircle, the product OP⋅OH is given by:
OP⋅OH=R2.
Thus, the value of OP⋅OH is fixed and equals R2.
The answer is: \boxed{R^2}.