What do the brackets mean in this inline structure representation?
When you see a formula like the one in the question in organic chemistry, the person writing it down either already assumes a lot of chemical knowledge on the reader’s side or wants to teach them how to interpret this. So to a practising organic chemist, one inline formula may mean one thing while a similar one (with brackets in the same positions etc) may mean something completely different. Sometimes even, inline formulae are (and must be, due to their nature) potentially ambiguous. Therefore, organic chemistry relies a lot on actually drawing out the structures, whether it be each atom explicitly or in the sum formula formalism.

In the case of $\ce{Br(CH2)4Br}$, organic chemists will know that bromine will typically only form one single bond. Additionally, each $\ce{CH2}$ unit is known to be able to form two bonds — either two single bonds or one double bond. Therefore, an organic chemist will automatically expand the formula to $\ce{Br-CH2-CH2-CH2-CH2-Br}$ or 1,4-dibromobutane.

However, you might also sooner or later encounter inline formulae such as $\ce{BrC(CH3)2CH2Br}$ or $\ce{(CH3)3COH}$. Here, the brackets do actually mean repeated addition of said group to a single common atom. so the first of these two formulae describes 1,2-dibromo-2-methylpropane and could also be written $\ce{H3C-C(CH3)(Br)-CH2Br}$ while the second one represents tert-butanol or 2-methylpropan-2-ol.

Immediately realising which type of brackets is used requires practice and experience.