When d'Alembert attacked Clairaut's solution of the three-body problem as being too much based on observation and not, like his own work, based on theoretical results, Clairaut strongly attacked d'Alembert in the most bitter dispute of their lives. It is hard to judge which of the two great mathematicians was right, but Clairaut clearly won the public argument at the time, not least because his standing was so high after the remarkable prediction of the date of the return of Halley 's comet.
Kapag d'Alembert attacked Clairaut ng solusyon ng tatlong-katawan problema bilang ng masyadong maraming base sa observation at hindi, tulad ng kanyang sariling gawain, batay sa resulta ng panteorya, Clairaut Matindi attacked d'Alembert sa pinaka-mapait na alitan ng kanilang mga buhay. Ito ay mahirap sa hukom na ng dalawang great mathematicians ay karapatan, ngunit malinaw na Clairaut won ang pampublikong argument sa oras, dahil hindi bababa sa kanyang kalagayan ay kaya mataas na matapos ang hula ng pansin ang petsa ng pagbalik ng Halley 's buntala.