Given a circle and a chord , different from the diameter. Point moves along the large arc . The circle passing through passing through points and point of intersection of altitudes of of the triangle , re-intersects the line at point . Prove that line passes through a fixed point independent of the position of point .
Problem 1626
Official solution
1. **Fixing Point on the Circle:**
We start by fixing point on the circle with chord . We need to show that is the reflection of across .
2. **Proving is the Reflection of across :**
Since , we need to prove that .
3. Introducing Perpendiculars:
Let and be the feet of the perpendiculars from and to and respectively. Since , quadrilateral is cyclic.
4. Using Cyclic Quadrilateral Properties:
From the cyclic nature of , we have:
This shows that is the reflection of across .
5. **Extending to Meet Again:**
Extend until it meets the circumcircle of for a second time at point . We will show that is a fixed point.
6. **Claim 1: is Tangent to :**
To prove this, we need to show that .
This proves that is tangent to .
7. **Claim 2: :**
We previously proved that . Also, we have:
Since , it follows that .
8. **Defining Independently of :**
Now, we can define based only on , , and the circle. is the intersection of the tangent at to the circle containing , , and , and the circle centered at with radius other than . This point is independent of the position of .