We say that a computably enumerable (c. e.) degree
a is plus-cupping, if for every c. e. degree
x with 0 < x≤ a,
there is a c. e. degree y ≠ 0’ such that
x ∨ y=0’. We say that a is
n-plus-cupping, if for every c. e. degree x,
if 0 < x ≤ a, then there is a
lown c. e. degree l such that
x ∨ l=0’. Let PC and
PCn be the set of all plus-cupping, and n-plus-cupping
c. e. degrees respectively. Then PC1 ⊆
PC2⊆ PC3 = PC. In this
paper we show that PC1 ⊂ PC2, so giving
a nontrivial hierarchy for the plus cupping degrees. The theorem also
extends the result of Li, Wu and Zhang [li-wu-zhang] showing that
LC1 ⊂ LC2, as well as extending the
Harrington plus-cupping theorem [harrington1978].