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Title #4: With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way in which shared
knowledge can shape personal knowledge.
In Mathematics and History, shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge,

although only to a certain extent, as is it is normally personal knowledge that shapes shared
knowledge. Shared knowledge refers to the knowledge that is shared by a group of people,
normally a certain community. It is acquired by extracting the common knowledge amongst a
group of individuals and is later on checked by means of a knowledge framework in order to
decide whether to consider it shared knowledge or not. In other words, it is knowledge that
comes from the knowledge of certain individuals (personal knowledge of experts in a certain
area of knowledge) and that can be summed up to the shared knowledge if it fits the required
characteristics of the knowledge framework. Within shared knowledge we can find group
knowledge, which refers to knowledge shared by a specific group of people within an area of
knowledge (for example mathematicians or historians investigating something). However, it
is important to highlight that shared knowledge does not evolve rapidly as there is normally
an implemented shared knowledge in most areas of knowledge that is difficult to change
unless there is a breakthrough moment. This difficulty for the evolution of shared knowledge
is due to the fact that the areas of knowledge develop a stable knowledge throughout the
years and is therefore difficult to change unless new results are discovered. On the other
hand, personal knowledge is acquired by an individual through experience and through
different ways of knowing such as: emotion, intuition, memory, reason and sense
perception in a specific area of knowledge. On the other hand, personal knowledge
changes and evolves as individuals acquire more experience. However, it is considered to be
difficult to share, as personal knowledge can sometimes be privileged knowledge and very
difficult to explain due to the individual being the only one having knowledge about
something (how to solve a mathematical problem that only one individual can solve).

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In Mathematics, personal knowledge has shaped shared knowledge. In fact, the shared

knowledge that actually exists in Mathematics is made up of individual discoveries that have
been corroborated by different mathematicians in order to be considered shared knowledge.
Furthermore, the fact that individuals are acquiring personal knowledge on a daily basis is the
reason why shared knowledge evolves. We can find an example of how personal knowledge
can shape shared knowledge and be key in its evolution with the Muslim scholar AlKhwarizmi, who had a really strong input in the knowledge of Algorithms and came up with
a method to simplify the European counting system. He said: Prior to the 8th century, one
had to write the letter M a thousand times to indicate one million, imagine the ease of
writing the same thing in only seven digits. Al-Khwarizmi found the method of introducing
numbers from 0 to 9 to represent big numbers such as one million (Firdause) This discovery
shows how the personal knowledge that Al-Khwarizmi acquired through investigation (which
could be considered a breakthrough moment), has become shared knowledge that is still
present many years after.
However, shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge in Mathematics as it
might be considered to be a universal language. This implies that in order for individual
mathematicians to acquire personal knowledge out of a mathematical investigation, they
should most definitely possess shared knowledge (otherwise they wouldnt be able to do any
investigation). We can find a recent example of this in a discovery by Yitang Zhang, a math
professor at the University of New Hampshire. This university teacher has proven the
bounded gaps conjecture about the distribution of prime numbers (Ellenberg). The
interesting aspect in this discovery is that mathematicians already knew the conjecture about
the distribution of prime numbers, although it had never been proven to be true. Therefore,
the fact that Yitang Zhang was looking for evidence to corroborate the theory of the
conjecture of prime numbers implies that he already had shared knowledge about that theory.

Nevertheless, he had to have the shared knowledge that the prime numbers existed in order to
even think of this investigation, which has ended up in him acquiring personal knowledge
from it. Thus, through this discovery we can find a really clear example of how shared
knowledge can shape personal knowledge as the theory of the prime numbers that already
existed hadnt yet been corroborated and he managed to do so.
Additionally, the area of knowledge in which individuals work in (in this case
Mathematicians in Mathematics) will influence the perspective and the reasoning with which
those individuals address an investigation. Consequently, this investigation might result in a
discovery. Also, shared knowledge might sometimes shape personal knowledge in
mathematics by means of a reputable mathematician. An example of this is when an
individual acquires shared knowledge through a mathematician (such as a teacher) without
asking for any justification as he is an expert and knows more shared knowledge than him.
Furthermore, shared knowledge in Mathematics shapes the personal knowledge that
an individual acquires from personal experiences. This means that, as an example, an IB
student studying Mathematics HL will be able to calculate the exact probabilities of winning
the prize in a slot machine. The knowledge about this probability will therefore become
personal knowledge, which has derived from shared knowledge in Mathematics. Hence, this
is an example of how instruction and education can be ways to convert shared knowledge
into personal knowledge.
Moreover, the word History and shared knowledge go together. History is the study
of the traces of the past, but not every event in the past is considered to be History. Hence,
historians and the powers of authority are the ones who decide whether an event is considered
to be relevant to have as knowledge of the past and to include as History or not. This
definition directly involves that if a historian considers something to be History, the personal
knowledge that he had acquired becomes shared knowledge of the past. However, there is

always the exception that violates the rule, which is when a reduced group of people (such as
a tribe) has personal knowledge about an event that occurred in the past and remained to be
personal knowledge until historians found some records about it. An example of this is found
in the Dogon Tribe, which said that they had knowledge that the Sirius B star existed
because they claimed that they received some visitors from other star system. In the year
1862, a faint companion star was finally detected, and it was assumed that its extreme
density and heaviness was sufficient to exert an influence on Sirius A (Sewell). This
discovery that was made by astronomers is an example of how personal knowledge of a tribe
has become and shaped shared knowledge.
On the other hand, the shared knowledge about History evolves over time. In fact, the
discovery of new records and evidence result in its slow and constant evolution. Shared
knowledge steadily shapes personal knowledge in the process in which historians analyze
records and write about them. In this process, issues such as the objectivity with which they
analyze records due to their believes or perspective about the event point might result in bias
when writing about them. Nonetheless, their intuition might also take an important role in it,
as the interpretation will unconsciously be biased by the shared knowledge and the prior
experiences of the historian. An example of bias in the process in which historians interpret
records is when a Jewish historian writes about the events of World War II. Consequently,
this process of interpretation leads us to a chain in which the personal knowledge acquired by
the historian from analyzing records will be affected and biased by shared knowledge that
already exists about that event or about similar ones in the past. As a result of this, the
History written by historians (in other words, what becomes shared knowledge) will be
affected by personal knowledge; so we end up in an endless chain in which one shapes the
other and so on. An example of shared knowledge affecting personal knowledge within a
historical discovery is the finding of a 1.8 million-year-old skull found in Georgia. From the

analysis of the skull it was found that the genus Homo probably had less branches than it was
believed. They concluded that the members contained in the genus Homo were all part of a
single species and have evolved into human beings. With this example, it is appreciated that
the fact that Homo genus existed was considered shared knowledge, which has therefore
affected the personal knowledge of the person analyzing the skull and its interpretation of it
(Connor).
Shared knowledge is made up from the knowledge of many individuals put together
and is in constant evolution. Consequently, it can be said that it is actually made up of
personal knowledge, or that it is the basis of shared knowledge. However, it is also important
to consider the fact that shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge in some situations
such as those stated before. However, it is important to highlight that shared knowledge only
shapes personal knowledge to a certain extent, as it would be incorrect to state that personal
knowledge is shaped by shared knowledge. Moreover, there might not be a correct answer to
this question as shared knowledge and personal knowledge are really closely related and both
of them need each other to be supported. In conclusion, it would be reasonable to say that
shared knowledge shapes personal knowledge to a certain extent, considering that shared
knowledge is made up of personal knowledge.

Word count: 1600

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Works cited

Connor, Steve. "Perfectly Preserved 1.8 Million-year-old Skull 'could Re-write History of
Human Evolution'" The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 18 Oct.
2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2014. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/perfectlypreserved-18-millionyearold-skull-could-rewrite-History-of-human-evolution8887039.html>.
Ellenberg, Jordan. "The Beauty of Bounded Gaps." Slate. N.p., 22 May 2013. Web. 1 Dec.
2014.
<http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/do_the_math/2013/05/yitang_zha
ng_twin_primes_conjecture_a_huge_discovery_about_prime_numbers.html>.
Firdause Bin Mangun, Muhd. "Early Muslim Scholars Contributions in Modern Mathematics
and Modern Engineering (Assignment Paper, Not Published, Just Sharing)."
Academia.edu. Academia.edu, 5 Apr. 2014. Web. 7 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.academia.edu/6719202/Early_Muslim_Scholars_Contributions_in_Mod
ern_Mathematics_and_Modern_Engineering_Assignment_Paper_Not_Published_Just
_Sharing_>.
Sewell Ward, Daniel. "The Dogon Tribe." The Dogon Tribe. Library of Halexandria, n.d.
Web. 20 Jan. 2015. <http://www.halexandria.org/dward109.htm>.