Motivated by the problem of the dynamics of point-particles in high
post-Newtonian (e.g. 3PN) approximations of general relativity, we consider a
certain class of functions which are smooth except at some isolated points
around which they admit a power-like singular expansion. We review the concepts
of (i) Hadamard ``partie finie'' of such functions at the location of singular
points, (ii) the partie finie of their divergent integral. We present and
investigate different expressions, useful in applications, for the latter
partie finie. To each singular function, we associate a partie-finie (Pf)
pseudo-function. The multiplication of pseudo-functions is defined by the
ordinary (pointwise) product. We construct a delta-pseudo-function on the class
of singular functions, which reduces to the usual notion of Dirac distribution
when applied on smooth functions with compact support. We introduce and analyse
a new derivative operator acting on pseudo-functions, and generalizing, in this
context, the Schwartz distributional derivative. This operator is uniquely
defined up to an arbitrary numerical constant. Time derivatives and partial
derivatives with respect to the singular points are also investigated. In the
course of the paper, all the formulas needed in the application to the physical
problem are derived.Comment: 50 pages, to appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic