It should be read as: [Ar] 4s1 .
Meaning: the same electron configuration as Argon(18), expanded with ONE (1) electron in the 4s orbital.
So it is one electron, thus also one proton more than Ar(18): this makes it atom number (19), which is named as Potassium:
K(19): electron configuration [1s2, 2s2 2p6, 3s2 3p6] 4s1 ,
(between squared brackets [...] is the electron configuration of Argon)