Find row number of first cell in a relative range that is less than $B$3

Question

Thanks for any help. I've spent hours searching, trying, and reading iWork Help
Example:   $B$3 = 3
Column C
1:  9
2:  2
3:  9
4:  2
5:  3
6:  9
7:  9
Find the first occurrence that is less than $B$3 (=3) in the range C3:C6. Return the row # (relative to the range, or actual row number, I don't care)
Fill Down the formula, so the next cell looks at the range C4:C7
In this case, I want it to return Row 4 (not 5 or 2)
Tried this with MATCH (last argument -1 or 1) which almost works, but if it finds an exact match, it returns that row (5) instead of the first one (4)

Answer 1

The single formula in D2, filled down that column, returns the row number of every row where the value in column C is less than or equal to the value in $B$3.
The second formula, which I placed in B4, but which can go wherever it's needed, searches a limited range of column D for the minimum value in that range.
In the example, based on your initial question, the range is three cells.  In B4, it's D2:D4; in B5 it's D3:D5, etc., with Numbers automatically adjusting the cell references as the formula is filled down the column. In each case, the formula returns the minimum value it finds in the three cell range, which is the row number on which the value in column C first meets the condition (less than or equal to $B$3) within that three cell range.
In the second example, the formula retrieves the same value (the row number) as above, but instead of displaying it, uses it as the row-offset value in an OFFSET statement to return the Date from the row where the row number was collected.
NOTE: Looking back at it, I see that in my rush to other duties I made an error in this formula, setting the row offset too high. Revise the formula as shown below to get the date from the correct row:
Existing: =IF(MAX(D2:D4)=0,"",OFFSET($A$1,MIN(D2:D4),0))
Revised: =IF(MAX(D2:D4)=0,"",OFFSET($A$1,MIN(D2:D4)-1,0))
You wrote:
If I'm following the logic, it would require one column (like D in this example) for every set of rows searched (in my example, B5:B15  filled down, so the next search is B6:B16 and so on).
No. Provided the values of X and Y are constant for each set of searches, you'll need an auxiliary column for each column of values to be searched. One auxiliary column is used to mark the rows in which the value in B meets the condition ">x", the second to mark the rows where the value in C meets the condition "<y".
The search formula (above) searches a subset of its column and returns the lowest row number where the condition for that column is met,and either displays that number or uses it to return and display a date.
Regards,
Barry