David,
Most books use the simple df= n1+n2-2
However, look at these for references to the more complex formula
http://www.biostat.wustl.edu/archives/html/s-news/2005-08/msg00008.html
http://projectile.is.cs.cmu.edu/research/public/talks/t-test.htm
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~donaldp/Biostatitics/lecture10.htm
You will need to find a professional statistician to ask why there are two
methods.
best wishes

Signature
Bernard V Liengme
Microsoft Excel MVP
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
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> According to http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/HP052038731033.aspx
> degrees of freedom in t-test for two unequal variances (regardless of
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> Best,
> David