To find how much flour is used when baking each cake, we can calculate the flour per cake for the points given in the graph. We will divide the number of cups of flour used \( y \) by the number of cakes baked \( x \) for each point:
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For the point (8, 20): \[ \text{Flour per cake} = \frac{20}{8} = 2.5 \text{ cups per cake} \]
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For the point (18, 45): \[ \text{Flour per cake} = \frac{45}{18} = 2.5 \text{ cups per cake} \]
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For the point (14, 35): \[ \text{Flour per cake} = \frac{35}{14} = 2.5 \text{ cups per cake} \]
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For the point (6, 15): \[ \text{Flour per cake} = \frac{15}{6} = 2.5 \text{ cups per cake} \]
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For the point (23, 57.5): \[ \text{Flour per cake} = \frac{57.5}{23} = 2.5 \text{ cups per cake} \]
In all cases, the calculation shows that the amount of flour used per cake is consistently \( 2.5 \) cups.
Thus, the answer is
D. \( 2 \frac{1}{2} \).