> So if instead of text we come up with a different representation for mathematical or physical problems, that could both improve

But then, wouldn't we first have to translate all of our current math and physics knowledge into that new representation in order to be able to train a model on it? Looks like a tremendous amount of work to me.

Yes, but by then you already have general LLMs capable of helping with the work. And even if you didn't, if that's what it would take to advance research in these fields, that would be a justifiable effort.