Sound incredible? Could be the genes. An uncle on his father's side is a mathematician and Lukács' father trained as a civil engineer and has a PhD in philosophy. His father, János, and young Lukács Lukács often wiled away the hours playing arithmetic games - he was only four at the time.

By age 11, his teacher and father knew Lukács was a math whiz. He skipped high school completely by arranging an exemption with the Israeli Ministry of Education, and headed straight for the Israel Institute of Technology (Technion) to study math. He completed his BA in 1998 after two- and-a-half years and completed his high-school exams at the same time. He topped the whole thing off this past summer with an MA.

How does it feel attending university? Lukács shrugs it off. "It's not good to categorize people by age. It's the least important thing about a person." Most of his friends are older. "The youngest is 23," he says.

The solid reputation of York's math department apparently caught Lukács' attention so he packed his bags and headed alone to Toronto. He admits he misses his father, a former university professor who still lives in Israel. "My father's always supported me and taught me to make my own decisions."

Aside from his studies, Lukács amuses himself by listening to classical music, and admires the work of Canadian pianist, Glenn Gould.

Lukács' goal is a university career in research and teaching. He's had a taste of teaching back home at Technion. He thrived on the interaction with his students who were nonchalant about his age. "After a while, they forgot about it. They wanted to come to class and they gave me high marks on their evaluations."

Photo: Ruth Kaplan