What does socotoa mean?

It is an 'Aide memoire' to help with using the correct sides , with the correct function. .

socatoa, becomes SOHCAHTOA ; SOH , CAH, TOA.

SOH is Sin(angle) = Opposite/Hypotenuse.

CAH is Cosine(Cos(angle)) = Adjacent/ Hypotenuse

TOA is Tangent(Tan(Angle)) = Opposite / Adjacent.