This article, rather than purporting to be any sort of serious statistical analysis of the situation, is intended in some small way to foster further debate amongst school teachers, university lecturers, examiners, curriculum designers and policy makers regarding the level of mathematical skill and knowledge possessed in certain areas by students embarking on mathematics degree programmes. The title serves merely to set the scene, and to indicate our relatively narrow focus here. However, a whole host of mathematical words or phrases could have replaced ‘trigonometry’, and it would appear that much of the mathematics associated with straightforward A level work on functions causes even fairly bright students to struggle. Surely the study of functions ought to be regarded as a fundamental element of learning mathematics, and the acquisition of understanding in this area might consequently be seen as something of fundamental importance?