As seen here: http://railstutorial.org/chapters/rails-flavored-ruby#top for the file:
app/helpers/application_helper.rb:
module ApplicationHelper
It's called string interpolation. base_title is a variable, and the #{} characters denote that its value should be substituted in place of that marker.
It's string interpolation. Eg:
name = "nobosh" puts "Hello, #{name}."
Prints
Hello, nobosh.