title: SQL - selecting the first record found before a given date
body: <p>Say I have a table:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ID  DATE
  1   2/1/12
  2   3/1/12
  3   1/1/12
  4   4/1/12
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How would I go about selecting the first date found when decrementing from a given date.  </p>
  
  <p>Example:  Find the last entry before 4/1/12, by date.  Return entry at SQL ID 2.</p>
  
  <p>If this was added:</p>
  
  <pre><code>ID  DATE
  5   3/2/12
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Than the above example would return the entry at SQL ID 5.</p>
  
  <p>How would I represent what I need in SQL?</p>