  In this work, we design an entropy stable, finite volume approximation for
the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations. The method is novel as we
design an affordable analytical expression of the numerical interface flux
function that discretely preserves the entropy of the system. To guarantee the
discrete conservation of entropy requires the addition of a particular source
term to the ideal MHD system. Exact entropy conserving schemes cannot dissipate
energy at shocks, thus to compute accurate solutions to problems that may
develop shocks, we determine a dissipation term to guarantee entropy stability
for the numerical scheme. Numerical tests are performed to demonstrate the
theoretical findings of entropy conservation and robustness.
