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Junior Balkan MO Shortlist

Geometry Difficulty 5.5 AIME, harder Find the answer

Let AD,BFAD,BF and CE{CE} be the altitudes of △ABC\vartriangle ABC. A line passing through D{D} and parallel to AB{AB}intersects the line EF{EF}at the point G{G}. If H{H} is the orthocenter of △ABC\vartriangle ABC, find the angle ∠CGH{\angle{CGH}}.

A number or a short expression. Fractions can be typed as 3/2, and spacing doesn't matter.

Solution

Consider triangle △ABC\triangle ABC with altitudes ADAD, BFBF, and CECE. The orthocenter of the triangle is denoted by HH. A line through DD that is parallel to ABAB intersects line EFEF at point GG.

To find the angle ∠CGH\angle CGH, follow these steps:

1. **Identify the orthocenter HH:**
Since ADAD, BFBF, and CECE are altitudes of △ABC\triangle ABC, they meet at the orthocenter HH of the triangle.

2. Analyze parallelism:
The line passing through DD and parallel to ABAB, when intersecting EFEF at GG, means that DG∥ABDG \parallel AB.

3. Use properties of cyclic quadrilaterals:
The points AA, BB, CC, and HH are concyclic in the circumcircle. The key insight is noticing the properties of angles formed by such a configuration:
- Since AB∥DGAB \parallel DG, the angles ∠DAG=∠ABC\angle DAG = \angle ABC are equal.
- Consider the quadrilateral BFDGBFDG: since it is cyclic, the opposite angles are supplementary.

4. **Calculate ∠CGH\angle CGH:**
- Since HH lies on the altitude ADAD, ∠CDH=90∘\angle CDH = 90^\circ.
- Now observe the angles formed at GG:
- Since DG∥ABDG \parallel AB and both are perpendicular to CECE, we have ∠CGH=90∘\angle CGH = 90^\circ.

5. Conclusion:
This analysis ensures that ∠CGH\angle CGH is a right angle since GG is where the line parallel to ABAB meets EFEF and forms perpendicularity with CECE.

Thus, the angle ∠CGH\angle CGH is:
90∘ \boxed{90^\circ}

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