I think my question was not clear enough.
No, it was clear! You're just not following what I tried to explain.
The column_index_number is *relative* to the lookup_table. If your table
range is A1:BZ100 then the column_index_number for column BR would be the
same as the column number for column BR. Column BR = 70 and this would also
be the column_index_number *realtive* to the lookup_table. So, you could use
this:
=VLOOKUP("Joe",A1:BZ100,COLUMN(BR1),0)
Which evaluates to:
=VLOOKUP("Joe",A1:BZ100,70,0)
However, if the table range was AA1:BZ100 then the column_index_number is no
longer the same as the column number for column BR (70). The
column_index_number for column BR would now be 44. As I tried to explain in
my other post, when this is the case then you can use the MATCH function to
*automatically* calculate the column_index_number for you instead of trying
to figure it out in your head or using some sort of offset adjustment.