Upgrading my 340

The underlined; YES! But only top end power. Or via the formula, a whole lot from mid way to the top.

The bold type; Not exactly. The carb is still the carb at it's rating. The engine is pulling or consuming that 550cfm. So the carb is not smaller, just not used to it's fullest. Down grading the carb cfm size (850 to 550) is IMO a wrong way to state it and go about writing about. This wold just confuse people. It is not accurate.

The italic; YES! Because the engine is only consuming that much. But where it happens should change, slightly. Nothing to argue over. The bigger the throttle bores the less velocity.

One last thing, a carb doesn't need vacuum. The air rushing through the venturi(s) is ether done by vacuum OR the atomshpereic pressure. OR turbo/supercharger. Fuel is drawn out from the carb from the air rushing past the fuel openings in the carb.
Sorry, but vacuum is always the delta value between atmosphere & the lack of it wherever it is being monitored, pressure drop means there is a vacuum. W/o it no fuel is going to
flow, which is why the venturi exists, to create a local pressure drop(vacuum) that will pull fuel out & recover most of the mass air flow. And as has been documented by many,
the wet flow rating at 1.5"Hg advertised can be all over the place side by side other carbs, so choosing between diff. models & brands...........????? It comes down to actual carb
capacity, & what min. depression You want at max RPM, 273 said it right. Turbos etc. are simply raising atmosphere to much higher levels.