Similarity to symmetric matrices over fields which are not formally real

We show that a matrix is similar to a symmetric matrix over a field of characteristic 2 if and only if the minimum polynomial of the matrix is not the product of distinct irreducible polynomials whose splitting fields are inseparable extensions. When the field is not of characteristic 2, a known theorem is generalized by considering k, the number of elementary divisors of odd degree of the n × n A: If -1 is a sum of 2^v squares and n differs from a multiple of 2^{v + 1} by at most ±k, then A is similar to a symmetric matrix.