About 20 different comic books will be distributed to five kids. (a) How many ways are there to distribute the comic books if there are no restrictions on how many go to each kid (other than the fact that all 20 will be given out) ?

5^20

Step-by-step explanation:

For each comic book, there are five different choices for which kid will receive that comic book. 20 decisions are made, one for each comic book with five different possibilities for each choice. The number of ways to distribute the comic books to the five kids is 5^20.