accessing node[$position]

In trying to reorder a set of nodes, I've run into a
problem with doing this:

<xsl:variable name="this_page"
select="descendant::page[$the_position]"/>
or
<xsl:value-of
select="descendant::page[$the_position]"/>

($the_position is a parameter that's passed in.)
Xselerator seems to have a problem with anything
involving something like node[$param_or_variable],
saying that the variable cannot be resolved (even
though value-of works just fine). I want to use a
param so I can jump around as necessary.
I've been searching for information on this for the
past couple days, and haven't had much luck (unless
I'm missing something, which is quite possible). Do
params/variables not work in this context? Is there a
workaround?
Thanks,
Jennifer


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