Hi, Nicolas: I see you point and I should have said baseline not bottom. Many *inline* formulas are not quite like your examples though and even when the glyphs have some descent they tend too look more naturally (even if imperfectly) aligned at the bottom IMO.
Tobias: that's really nice, thanks! Now, isn't it possible within reason to take inspiration from texfrag mode in order to improve org mode alignment? What do you think, Tobias, is that too hard? Thanks!